Ryzhi/Shutterstock.com
Ranking Digital Rights (RDR) seeks input on our work to expand the RDR Corporate Accountability Index to address human rights harms from companies’ use of algorithms, machine learning, and automated decision-making. We also seek feedback on our work to incorporate services offered by Amazon and Alibaba into the RDR Index ranking.
In February 2019, we announced plans to develop the RDR Index methodology to address the evolving, increasingly complex human rights threats that internet users face. We also opened public consultations soliciting feedback for our ongoing work to develop new indicators that set accountability and transparency standards for company policies and practices related to targeted advertising.
This week, we are releasing a set of consultation documents (see below) summarizing RDR’s work aimed at encouraging corporate accountability and transparency regarding the use of algorithms, machine learning, and automated decision-making. We are also releasing consultation documents (see below) summarizing our work to include Amazon and Alibaba—and specifically, e-commerce platforms and digital personal assistants—in the RDR Index.
Stakeholder feedback: We welcome feedback on these documents by September 13, 2019. Feedback from a wide range of experts and stakeholders is essential to developing a methodology that is credible, rigorous, and effective. It will also help to inform further research as well as in-person stakeholder and expert consultations, which in turn will inform the drafting of pilot indicators that will be published and pilot-tested later in 2019. Please send comments and input to: methodology@rankingdigitalrights.org.
Algorithms, machine learning, and automated decision-making
The use of automation—for both content curation and data processing—poses a range of human rights risks to internet users, particularly to the right to freedom of expression and information and to the right to privacy. The failure by companies to respect these fundamental human rights also causes or contributes to violations of other human rights, such as the right to non-discrimination. The following materials outline our rationale and approach for developing new indicators addressing these issues:
- Rationale: for why and how RDR plans to expand the RDR Index methodology to address algorithms, machine learning, and automated decision-making.
- Human rights risk scenarios: a list of “risk scenarios,” each describing human rights harms directly or indirectly related to privacy and expression that can result from companies’ use of algorithms, machine learning, and automated decision-making.
- Best Practices: a number of best practices for company disclosure and policy that could help prevent or mitigate these risks.
Our goal in developing new indicators that address human rights harms posed by the use of algorithms, machine learning, and automated decision-making is to help set global accountability and transparency standards for how major, publicly traded internet, mobile, and telecommunications companies can demonstrate respect for human rights online as they develop and deploy these new technologies.
New companies: Amazon and Alibaba
As two of the world’s largest digital platforms, Amazon and Alibaba’s absence from the RDR Index represents a key gap in our current ranking. There have been growing concerns about both companies’ privacy practices and respect for human rights in general—particularly in relation to e-commerce platforms and personal digital assistants (PDAs), which collect enormous amounts of information about users. The following consultation materials summarize our rationale and approach for integrating these companies and services into the RDR Index.
- Rationale: for why we are expanding the RDR Index to include Amazon and Alibaba.
- Human rights risk scenarios: a list of “risk scenarios” describing privacy and freedom of expression-related risks associated with e-commerce platforms and personal digital assistants.
- Best practices: a number of best practices for company disclosure and policy that could help prevent or mitigate these risks.
Our goal in expanding the RDR Index to include Amazon and Alibaba is to apply RDR’s global accountability and transparency standards to two companies that have enormous influence over the rights of people around the world who use their products and services. RDR’s work in this area can inform the work of other stakeholders, including investors conducting due diligence on portfolio risk, policymakers seeking to establish regulatory frameworks to protect the rights of internet users, and advocates looking to encourage these companies to adopt policies and practices to mitigate the human rights harms associated with their services.
Please send feedback to methodology@rankingdigitalrights.org. We look forward to hearing from you.
To stay informed about our progress and plans, please subscribe to our newsletter here.
