PrivacyLeading tech companies get failing grade for their privacy policies

Published 3 November 2015

The Ranking Digital Rights’ report, 2015 Corporate Accountability Index, find that the world’s leading technology companies deserve a failing grade for their privacy policies and the level of protection they offer their users. Some of the companies have also been found lacking for their freedom of expression practices. “Even the companies that ranked highest are missing the mark in some ways, and improvements are needed across the board to demonstrate a greater commitment to users’ freedom of expression and privacy,” the report says.

The Ranking Digital Rights’ report, 2015 Corporate Accountability Index, find that the world’s leading technology companies deserve a failing grade for their privacy policies and the level of protection they offer their users. Some of the companies have also been found lacking for their freedom of expression practices.

Among the companies surveyed were U.S. giants Facebook, Google, and Microsoft, Europe’s top mobile companies Vodafone and Orange, China’s Tencent, and South Korea’s Daum Kakao (which makes the 140 million-user-strong KakaoTalk).

RDR says that its research found that many of the world’s most powerful Internet and telecommunications companies fail to disclose key information about practices affecting users’ rights.

“Even the companies that ranked highest are missing the mark in some ways, and improvements are needed across the board to demonstrate a greater commitment to users’ freedom of expression and privacy,” RDR says.

“There are no ‘winners’,” says the report’s executive summary. “Even companies in the lead are falling short.”

For the inaugural Index, Ranking Digital Rights analyzed a representative group of sixteen companies which collectively have the power to shape the digital lives of billions of people. Leading global ESG Research and ratings provider Sustainalytics co-developed the methodology.

Eight publicly listed Internet companies and eight publicly listed telecommunications companies were selected based on factors including geographic reach and diversity, user base, company size, and market share. These companies were assessed on thirty-one indicators across three categories — commitment, freedom of expression, and privacy — drawn from international human rights frameworks, as well as emerging and established global principles for privacy and freedom of expression.