Today Sonos announced that in response to Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal, it has decided to suspend its Facebook ads and donate to RightsCon, Access Now’s annual conference on the intersection of human rights and technology:
“We believe that all people have the right to know how their data is being collected and used, and that each of us in the technology sector has an obligation to honor the commitments we make to our customers’ privacy. Big digital platforms offer us incredible opportunities to personalize and contextualize the advertising we deliver to you. But with the power of those capabilities comes a great responsibility that can’t be neglected,” explains the company in a blog post. “We will also go dark on our Facebook and Instagram social accounts next week in solidarity with those seeking to build a healthier, more consumer-friendly tech ecosystem.”
Shortly after the Sonos announcement and The Verge tweeting its press coverage, Elon Musk tweeted a response — and we invited him to join us at RightsCon, share his views, and donate his ads, too.
Access Now is honored that Sonos is stepping forward to support our community and the important conversation we are having about privacy, data protection, and other vital human rights issues in the digital age.
Every year RightsCon gathers business leaders, technologists, engineers, investors, activists, human rights experts, and government representatives from around the world to tackle the most pressing issues at the digital frontier. RightsCon represents a global community, with thousands of leading voices from more than 115 countries, sharing ideas across stakeholder lines.
We hope that other companies that care about privacy, data protection, and the future of the free and open internet will also step forward now to support RightsCon. There’s a better pathway for the future of the internet, and we want to find it together.
We also call on the companies that are speaking out now about data protection and privacy to provide granular transparency into any third-party sharing and ensure against data misuse by those third parties to the fullest extent possible. We will be holding privacy and data workshops at RightsCon with experts who can advise companies on best practices, privacy solutions, and more.
You can donate to Access Now here. You can also reach out to our conference director, Nick Dagostino, directly if you or your organization would like to support RightsCon.