The Telecommunications Industry Dialogue , a group of eight companies that have been meeting since 2011 to discuss freedom of expression and privacy rights, have drafted a set of ten guiding principles exploring the interaction between a government’s duty to protect human rights and the corporate responsibility of companies to respect human rights.
The group, which includes Alcatel-Lucent, France Telecom-Orange, Millicom, Nokia Siemens Networks, Telefonica, Telenor, TeliaSonera and Vodafone, has also announced that it would collaborate for two-years with the Global Network Initiative (GNI), an organisation consisting of companies, civil society organisations, investors and academics who seek to protect and advance freedom of expression and privacy in the ICT sector.
The Industry Dialogue’s principles state that telecom companies should create and/or maintain policies outlining their commitment to mitigate the risks to freedom of expression and privacy associated with their technology and services. It also calls for regular human rights impact assessments. Furthermore, operational processes should be established to evaluate government requests that may have an impact of said freedoms and strategies adopted to minimise the impact if a government makes an unlawful request or misuses products for illegitimate purposes. Other principles cover employee training, sharing knowledge with appropriate stakeholders, reporting on an annual basis and helping to inform the development of policies and regulations.
The collaboration with GNI will not involve the Telecommunications Industry Dialogue joining GNI, but will see GNI house the work of the Industry Dialogue. It will also provide a common platform for the exchange of best practice, learning and tools.
