On January 1, 2024, RDR began the next chapter of its corporate accountability work with a transition to the World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA). This move will give RDR an opportunity to engage with a broader international coalition of benchmarking efforts driving systems change through the tools of corporate accountability. It will also serve as a new bridge between New America and the World Benchmarking Alliance under our shared vision of advancing a more inclusive and sustainable digital future. The post Transition of Ranking Digital Rights from New America to the World Benchmarking Alliance ..read more

Over the past decade, Ranking Digital Rights has established a strong reputation for holding Big Tech and Telco Giant companies accountable for upholding human rights. Many bright minds have passed through RDR’s (figurative) doors, who have made important contributions to ensuring RDR would find the... The post The RDR Standards Story: Tracing 10 Years of RDR’s Methodology appeared first on Ranking Digital Rights ..read more

In 2022, for the first time, Ranking Digital Rights divided its flagship Corporate Accountability Index—which, since 2015, has evaluated the world’s most powerful digital platforms and telcos on their respect for human rights—into two, becoming the Big Tech Scorecard (BTS) and the Telco Giants Scorecard... The post Three Telecom Giants Take on Improved Human Rights Policies–With Help from RDR appeared first on Ranking Digital Rights ..read more

With the release of her pivotal Consent of the Networked in 2012, RDR Founder Rebecca MacKinnon issued a call to action for civil society to defend our digital rights from companies with the same rigor with which we’ve previously fought for our rights before governments. In... The post The Radar: Discover a Decade of RDR, 10 Years of Human Rights in the Digital Age  appeared first on Ranking Digital Rights ..read more

Since 2018, organizations across various socio-political contexts have adapted RDR’s methodology to hold platforms and other ICT services accountable. What do they each have in common? Protecting the rights of some of the globe’s most marginalized and discriminated against populations. Two of the most successful... The post From LGBTQ Rights Online to User Rights in Iran: Hear Directly from RDR’s Partners appeared first on Ranking Digital Rights ..read more

Zak Rogoff: Can you start by giving me your observations of what RDR is like now compared to the beginning, when you founded it? Rebecca MacKinnon: In 2013, it was just an idea getting off the ground. We didn’t actually have an index of any... The post In Conversation with RDR Founder Rebecca MacKinnon appeared first on Ranking Digital Rights ..read more

In 2018, the Cambridge Analytica scandal helped propel the perils of surveillance capitalism into the mainstream. The following year, the release of Shoshana Zuboff’s pivotal book, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, cemented the issues of data privacy and targeted advertising as top problems of our... The post Misinformation By Design: RDR Helps Lay Bare the Surveillance Advertising Business Model appeared first on Ranking Digital Rights ..read more

From its inception, Ranking Digital Rights’s standards and methodology were designed with investors in mind. Indeed, our Corporate Accountability Index was devised almost a decade ago alongside ESG ratings provider Sustainalytics. Since then, RDR has aimed to ensure our standards would be usable for responsible... The post Tackling Big Tech From Within: Empowering Investors to Take on ICT Giants appeared first on Ranking Digital Rights ..read more

Image created with MidJourney In the fall of 2023, Ranking Digital Rights will release the Generative AI Accountability Scorecard, evaluating major consumer-facing generative AI services’ respect for the human rights to privacy, non-discrimination, freedom of expression, and freedom of information. Today, we are sharing a... The post Provide Feedback on RDR’s Draft Generative AI Accountability Indicators appeared first on Ranking Digital Rights ..read more

Photo via MidJourney Despite Central Asia’s political turmoil and fragile democratic institutions, its digital services sector has grown steadily in recent years, a trend accelerated during the recent Covid-19 pandemic. With countries across the region continuing to introduce programs focused on digitization—from work-from-home schemes to... The post RDR’s Methodology Spotlights the Need for Transparency on Shutdowns and Censorship in Central Asia appeared first on Ranking Digital Rights ..read more