Our small team spans the globe and comprises experts on a wide range of internet and human rights-related issues, from algorithms to ad tech to data protection and beyond. We were founded in 2013 by Rebecca MacKinnon, author of Consent of the Networked: The Worldwide Struggle for Internet Freedom, which has become the source code for RDR. In her book, MacKinnon foresaw the dangers of a world in which “the corporations and governments that build, operate, and govern cyberspace are not being held sufficiently accountable for their exercise of power over the lives and identities of people who use digital networks.”
We believe that transparency is the first step to accountability. We evaluate the policies and practices of the world’s most powerful tech and telecom companies and study their effects on people’s fundamental human rights. We are the only organization in the world that produces an open dataset on companies’ commitments and policies affecting users’ freedom of expression and privacy.
Our work guides policymakers, investors, and advocates seeking to shape a digital public sphere in which networked technologies respect human rights, strengthen democracy, and promote equity and justice for people everywhere.
An internet that supports and sustains human rights.
To promote freedom of expression and privacy on the internet by creating global standards and incentives for companies to respect and protect user’s rights.
By benchmarking and ranking them against standards that set high but achievable goals for corporate transparency and rights-respecting policies, we give companies an incentive to improve their policies and practices over time.
Founded in 2013, Ranking Digital Rights has grown into a diverse team of researchers, journalists and communicators, lawyers and technologists. Collectively, we speak nearly a dozen languages and have a wide range of lived experience. We are globally distributed and call home a variety of locales in Europe, Latin America, and the U.S. And we also work with an exceptional network of researchers from all over the world.
If you would like to work with us or become a contributing researcher, please browse our current opportunities or send us an email.
Ranking Digital Rights generates revenue by applying for grants and engaging in a limited amount of fee-for-service work.
We do not take contributions from any of the companies we rank or any company that we may potentially rank in the future.
We are grateful to our funders and institutional partners for their ongoing support and enthusiasm for RDR’s work.
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