IGF2015 Day 2 Workshop: Benchmarking ICT companies on digital rights

IGF Workshop No. 60

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

11 am – 12:30 pm (GMT -3)

Workshop Room 7

Remote participation: Follow webcast and live transcript via this link, use the Twitter hashtags #rankingrights and #IGF2015

Workshop description: There has been growing interest over the past few years in civil society efforts to hold ICT companies accountable for their impact on human rights,. All stakeholders including companies have an interest in setting clear industry standards on dimensions of privacy and freedom of expression. To that end, more research and comparative data about different companies’ policies and practices can encourage companies to compete with one another on respect for users’ rights. Given the international scope and complexity of the sector, this task is more than any single organization can fully tackle on a global scale, and it is important to recognize the diversity of goals and perspectives represented by organizations working in this space. The purpose of this roundtable workshop is to bring together a geographically diverse range of NGO’s and researchers to share experiences and perspectives on creating projects to rank or rate ICT companies. The goal is to create a “how to” guide on launching such projects as well as a collaborative network of organizations and researchers. Company and government stakeholders will also provide feedback on how such projects can most effectively influence corporate practice and government policy.

Participants will share their experiences and perspectives regarding the use of rankings of ICT sector companies on dimensions on privacy and freedom of expression. The emphasis will be on (1) highlighting the diversity of approaches and methods that are emerging in this space, and (2) identifying best practices that are applicable regardless of national or cultural context. The goal is to create a “how to” guide on launching such projects as well as a collaborative network of organizations and researchers. Company and government stakeholders will also provide feedback on how such projects can most effectively influence corporate practice and government policy.

Discussants

  • Rebecca MacKinnon — Director, Ranking Digital Rights
  • Jeremy Malcolm — Analyst, Electronic Frontier Foundation
  • Carolina Botero Cabrera — Director, Fundacion Karisma
  • Cecille Soria — Activist, Demoracy.Net.PH
  • Kelly Kim — General Counsel, Open Net Korea
  • Peter Micek — Access Now
  • Luca Belli — Terms of Service and Human Rights Project, Center for Technology & Society at Fundaçao Getulio Vargas.
  • Ankhi Das — Public Policy Director, Facebook – India, South & Central Asia
  • Marcin de Kaminski — Policy Specialist, Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA)

Moderator: Nathalie Marechal — doctoral student, University of Southern California

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