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For Investors

 

When companies fail to respect users’ privacy and freedom of expression, users clearly pay a price—but so do investors.

RDR is committed to providing data and research insights that can help guide investors as they navigate threats to privacy and freedom of expression and information—what we call “digital rights” risks—that arise in the technology and telecommunications sectors.

Companies that build their policies and practices around transparency, accountability, and respect for users’ digital rights will be in a better position to identify and mitigate harms to individuals and communities that regulators will eventually be compelled to address. Usually, by the time regulatory intervention becomes necessary to address a problem, that problem will have already become entrenched and widespread, making compliance much more costly.

Our research indicators represent a concrete standard not only for digital platforms and telecommunications companies to meet their normative responsibility to respect human rights, but also for moving beyond compliance and getting ahead of regulatory risks.

Our investor-focused publications
Talks and webinars
Relevant organizations and initiatives

Guidance for researchers:

1 Harvard professor Latanya Sweeney’s seminal study on Google search results for racially-associated names showed that when one searched Black-identifying names, the prevalence of ads related to criminal activity, such as background check services, was significantly higher than in searches of white-identifying names, regardless of whether or not named individuals had criminal records.

Sweeney, Latanya. “Discrimination in Online Ad Delivery,” Harvard University, January 2013.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2208240

An investigation by the Wall Street Journal showed some of the effects that Google’s algorithms have on search results, including favoring big businesses over smaller ones.

Kristen Grind, Sam Schechner, Robert McMillan, John West. “How Google Interferes With Its Search Algorithms and Changes Your Results,” Wall Street Journal, November 15, 2019. https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-google-interferes-with-its-search-algorithms-and-changes-your-results-11573823753

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