The Ranking Digital Rights Corporate Accountability Index was developed over three years of research, testing, consultation, and revision. Since its inception, the project has engaged closely with researchers around the globe. For methodology development, pilot study, and the inaugural RDR Index we also partnered with Sustainalytics, a leading provider of ESG (environmental, social, and governance) research to investors.
For more information about the RDR Index methodology development, see: rankingdigitalrights.org/methodology-development
To view or download the full 2019 RDR Index methodology, visit: rankingdigitalrights.org/2019-indicators
Looking ahead: Following the launch of the 2019 RDR Index, we plan to expand our methodology to address human rights harms associated with targeted advertising, algorithms, and machine learning. We will also adapt the methodology to include more company types, like powerful global platforms with core e-commerce businesses such as Amazon and Alibaba. The fifth RDR Index, with the expanded methodology and scope, will be published in 2021.
To learn more about the 2021 RDR Index methodology development process, see: rankingdigitalrights.org/methodology-development/2021-revisions
The 2019 RDR Index evaluates 12 telecommunications companies and 12 internet and mobile ecosystem companies. All companies evaluated are multinational corporations listed on a major stock exchange. The following factors influenced company selection:
The following factors guided the selection of services:
Telecommunications services: These operators provide a breadth of services. To keep the scope manageable while still evaluating services that directly affect freedom of expression and privacy, the RDR Index focused on: 1) postpaid and prepaid mobile services, including voice, text, and data services; and, 2) fixed-line broadband, in cases where it was available in the company’s home operating market. Only consumer services were included.
Internet services: Two or three discrete services were selected based on their comparability across companies, the size of their user base, and their ability to paint a fuller picture of the overall company approach to freedom of expression and privacy. This enabled researchers to discern whether company commitments, policies, and practices applied to the entire corporate entity or only to specific services.
Mobile ecosystems: Most of the world’s mobile devices are running either on Apple’s iOS operating system, or some version of Google’s Android mobile operating system. Thus we evaluate Apple’s iOS ecosystem plus two different variants of the Android ecosystem: Android on devices controlled directly by Google (the Nexus smartphone and Pixel tablet product lines), and Android on devices controlled by Samsung.
The RDR Index considered company disclosure on several levels—at the parent company level, the operating company level (for telecommunications companies), and the service level. This enabled the research team to develop as complete an understanding as possible about the level at which companies disclose or apply their policies.
For internet and mobile ecosystem companies, the parent company typically delivered the services. In some cases the service was also a subsidiary. However, the structure of these companies was generally such that the subsidiary only delivered one service, which made it straightforward to understand the scope of policy disclosure.
For telecommunications companies, with the exception of AT&T, the parent company did not directly provide consumer services, so researchers also examined a subsidiary or operating company based in the home market to ensure the RDR Index captured operational policies alongside corporate commitments. Given AT&T’s external presentation of its group-level and U.S. operating company as an integrated unit, we evaluated the group-level policies for AT&T.
RDR works with a network of international researchers to collect data on each company, and to evaluate company policies in the language of the company’s operating market. RDR’s external research team for the 2019 RDR Index consisted of 32 researchers from 17 countries. A list of our partners and contributors can be found at: rankingdigitalrights.org/who/affiliates
The research process for the 2019 RDR Index consisted of several steps involving rigorous cross-checking and internal and external review, as follows:
Proactive and open stakeholder engagement has been a critical component of RDR’s work and of the RDR Index methodology. As such, we communicated with companies throughout the research process.
Open dialogue and communication. Before the research began, we contacted all 24 companies and informed them that they were included in this year’s RDR Index, describing our research process and timeline. Following several stages of research and review, we shared each company’s initial results with them. We invited companies to provide written feedback as well as additional source documents. In many cases, the research team conducted conference calls or meetings with companies that requested them to discuss the initial findings as well as broader questions about the RDR Index and its methodology.
Incorporating company feedback into the RDR Index. While engagement with the companies was critical to understand company positions and ensure the research reviewed relevant disclosures, the RDR Index evaluates information that companies disclose publicly. Therefore, we did not consider a score change unless companies identified publicly available documentation that supported a change. Absent that, the research team reviewed company feedback and considered it as context for potential inclusion in the narrative report, but did not use it for scoring purposes.
The RDR Index evaluates company disclosure of the overarching “parent” or “group” level as well as those of selected services and or local operating companies (depending on company structure). Each indicator has a list of elements, and companies receive credit (full, partial, or no credit) for each element they fulfill. The evaluation includes an assessment of disclosure for every element of each indicator, based on one of the following possible answers:
Points
Companies receive a cumulative score of their performance across all Index categories, and results show how companies performed by each category and indicator. Scores for the Freedom of Expression and Privacy categories are calculated by averaging scores for each individual service. Scores for the Governance category indicators include group-, operating-, and service(s)-level performance (depending on indicator and company type, see below).
Governance category scoring
Indicator and element scoring
Telecommunications companies were evaluated on 32 of the 35 indicators; internet and mobile ecosystem companies were evaluated on 33 of the 35 indicators. Some elements within indicators were not applicable to certain services.
The following list identifies which indicators or elements were N/A for certain companies or services: F3, Element 2: N/A for search engines
The following elements apply only to mobile ecosystems:
The 2015 RDR Index can be viewed here: rankingdigitalrights.org/index2015
The 2017 RDR Index can be viewed here: rankingdigitalrights.org/index2017
The 2018 RDR Index can be viewed here: rankingdigitalrights.org/index2018
[115] Figures as of March 25, 2019. “World Internet Users and 2019 Population Stats,” Internet World Stats, accessed April 22, 2019, www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm
