A/HRC/32/38
Corporate transparency obligations may also include a duty to disclose processes and
reporting relating to terms of service enforcement and private requests for content
regulation and user data.
13.
Finally, the responsibility to respect involves attention to the availability of remedies
— from moral remedies to compensation and guarantees of non-repetition — when the
private actor has caused or contributed to adverse impacts.11
14.
The Guiding Principles provide a useful starting point for identifying private
information and communications responsibilities, but several other projects have also
proposed principles for the sector. The Global Network Initiative’s Principles on Freedom
of Expression and Privacy draw on the experience and expertise of the investor, civil
society and academic communities. The European Commission published the ICT Sector
Guide on Implementing the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
Relevant civil society initiatives include the Manila Principles of Intermediary Liability,
which establish baseline protection for intermediaries in accordance with freedom of
expression standards; the African Declaration on Internet Rights and Freedoms, which
promotes human rights standards and principles of openness in Internet policy formulation
and implementation on the continent; and the Ranking Digital Rights Corporate
Accountability Index, which evaluates a set of major private actors in the digital space on
the basis of their adherence to freedom of expression and privacy norms. Civil society also
acts to check and balance other actors engaged in Internet governance: the Code of Good
Practice on Information, Participation and Transparency in Internet Governance, for
example, seeks to ensure that relevant processes are meaningfully communicated to the
public, accountable to all stakeholders, and emphasize democratic participation.
III. Private sector roles and public/private regulation
A.
Impact of private enterprise on freedom of expression
15.
The range of private sector roles in organizing, accessing, populating and regulating
the Internet is vast and often includes overlapping categories.12
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1.
16.
While Internet service providers specifically connect their subscribers to the
Internet, telecommunication service providers offer a broader range of services, including
access to radio, television, telephone and mobile communication. Major multinational
corporations offer both categories of service, not only in their State of origin but also
globally. Vodafone, for example, is a British provider that owns and operates networks in
27 countries and has partner networks in over 50 additional countries. TeliaSonera, based in
Finland and Sweden, serves markets throughout Eurasia, and MTS Russia provides
domestic service but also provides telecommunication services in Armenia, Turkmenistan
and Uzbekistan. Companies like these often own and maintain significant aspects of the
technical infrastructure that transmit Internet and telecommunications traffic, including
fibre optic network cables, satellites or wireless links. Internet service providers in local and
11
12
6
Ibid., chap. II (B) (22).
See, for example, “Strategy panel: ICANN’s role in the Internet governance ecosystem” (23 February
2014); R. Mackinnon and others, Fostering Freedom Online: The Role of Internet Intermediaries
(Paris, UNESCO, 2014); and D. A. Hope, Protecting Human Rights in the Digital Age (February
2011).
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