The full report from Internet Without Borders is available in English and in French.
Subsidiaries of Orange in Senegal, and Vodafone in Kenya disclose less information about policies affecting their users’ digital rights than their European counterparts, according to research by advocacy group Internet Without Borders. The report evaluated policies from Sonatel (Orange in Senegal) and Safaricom (Vodafone in Kenya) affecting users’ freedom of expression and privacy. The research was conducted using a methodology adapted from the Ranking Digital Rights Corporate Accountability Index.
These two companies seem to face serious challenges in disclosing precise and clear information about how they uphold freedom of expression and privacy of their users. In fact, the study shows that Orange Senegal did not publish its terms of services or a privacy policy, while Safaricom’s terms of service was vague and used complicated legal language, making it not easily accessible to users.
In response to the report, Sonatel (Orange Senegal) said in a statement, “The report tends to project European habits onto an African context without thinking about whether this is accurate.” However, this shows the the need for better protections in sub-Saharan Africa for freedom of expression and privacy, which are universal human rights norms.
The Ranking Digital Rights Corporate Accountability Index uses benchmarks that help companies identify areas in which to improve disclosures and practices affecting freedom of expression and privacy. At Internet Without Borders, we hope that our research will inspire companies evaluated, and other telcos in sub-Saharan Africa, to re-assess their policies affecting privacy and freedom of expression. Moreover, we hope that telcos will play their part in leading the transformation of local legal environments in fostering better protection of digital rights in Africa. The initiative by Orange in Côte d’Ivoire to organize a masterclass on privacy in the digital age, following the publication of our report, is a great initiative which should be emulated elsewhere.
This blog post was written by Julie Owono, Executive Director of Internet Without Borders, a Ranking Digital Rights partner organization.
