Ranking Digital Rights: Human Rights, the Internet, and the Fifth Estate

• In Event: ICA Plenary Interactive Paper/Poster Session II
  In Interactive Paper Session: Global Communication and Social Change Interactive Paper Session

Abstract

Discussion of civil society activism and the protection of human rights in the 21st century through the lens of Ranking Digital Rights (RDR), a non-profit project holding private sector information and communication technology (ICT) firms accountable for their role as gate-keepers to the global public sphere. As political activity is increasingly mediated through the Internet, individuals and groups are becoming vulnerable to technical controls by state and non-state actors, including surveillance and censorship. The rights to free expression and privacy are prerequisites to the enjoyment of the full range of human rights, and information controls thus pose a threat to human rights and democracy everywhere. After considering the relationship between human rights and the ICT sector, the Fifth Estate, and the use of metrics in human rights advocacy, the paper describes the application of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to human rights and offers suggestions for activists and scholars.

Author

• Nathalie Marechal, U of Southern California - Annenberg School for Communication