The 30th of November we had the honour to share our lunch with Nathalie Maréchal, Senior Research Fellow at Ranking Digital Rights. In her talk she discussed the Ranking Digital Rights project, a non-profit research initiative housed at New America’s Open Technology Institute, working with an international network of partners to set global standards for how companies in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector should respect freedom of expression and privacy.

More in specific, she eleborated on the findings of the 2015 Ranking Digital Rights Corporate Accountability Index. This research evaluates 16 of the world’s most powerful Internet and telecommunications companies on their public commitments and disclosed policies affecting users’ freedom of expression and privacy. She also discussed her own dissertation project “Defying Censorship, Evading Surveillance: The Political Economy of Circumvention Technology,” and her plans for 2017.

Short bio

Nathalie is Senior Research Fellow at Ranking Digital Rights, a project housed at New America’s Open Technology Institute. She first joined RDR as a COMPASS Fellow in Summer 2014 and was Senior Fellow in Information Controls from February to September 2016. During this time, Nathalie spearheaded RDR’s work on expanding RDR’s Corporate Accountability Index to include software & device companies in the 2017 Index. In her current position as Senior Research Fellow, Nathalie conducts research on topics related to internet policy, business and human rights, and continues to contribute to RDR’s global engagement and outreach efforts.