Transparency and Human Rights in the Digital Age

‘What do we mean by transparency? Why does transparency matter for protecting and respecting rights online?’, ‘Transparency reporting by governments and companies – the current state of play and what’s missing’ and ‘Case studies on communicating with users on specific events’ will be the topics of twin Learning Forum events, organised by GNI and the Telecommunications Industry Dialogue, to take place on November 6 in Mountain View, California, and December 1 in Geneva, Switzerland.

2014 Learning Forums

In 2014, GNI and the Telecommunications Industry Dialogue will jointly organize twin Learning Forum events in the US and Europe along a shared theme of Transparency and Human Rights in the Digital Age. The first event will take place on Thursday November 6 in Mountain View, California, and the second will take place on Monday December 1 in Geneva, Switzerland, on the margins of the UN Forum on Business and Human Rights.

Both events will be invite-only, with a target audience of approximately 60 people. If you are interested in attending, please contact Ms Lisl Brunner at lbrunner@globalnetworkinitiative.org

Both events will follow a similar format with three sessions/agenda items:

1) What do we mean by transparency? Why does transparency matter for protecting and respecting rights online?

In 2013 and 2014, revelations about the scale of communications surveillance conducted by governments have prompted human rights organizations and the United Nations to call on States and companies to be more transparent about how communications data is gathered, stored, and used. In this context, there has been an increasing focus on the impact of ICT companies on their users’ freedom of expression and privacy rights. ICT companies around the world have contributed to the debate by issuing transparency reports that detail the number and type of government requests they have received for access to communications data. In addition to issuing reports, companies can also be more transparent about their policies and procedures dealing with both requests for communications data and requests to restrict content.

2) Transparency reporting by governments and companies – the current state of play and what’s missing

Speakers from ICT companies and governments will discuss trends in transparency reporting among companies and governments and explore ways in which these reports may be improved in order to give individuals the most complete picture possible of how their communications data is gathered and used, as well as what rules apply to the restriction of communications content.

3) Case studies on communicating with users on specific events

The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights recommend that companies communicate externally on how they address their human rights impacts, and the respective sets of principles to which companies participating in the GNI and the Industry Dialogue adhere also commit to communicating with users in this regard. Companies and NGOs will discuss the challenges they have faced and the lessons they have learned in putting this principle into practice.

1 December 2014
Hosted by the Geneva Internet Platform

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