Surveillance Capitalism

NGO Pushes UK Supermarkets on Supply-Chain Conditions

July 24, 2019

The nongovernmental organization Oxfam has released the second edition of its “supermarket scorecard” accusing Britain’s largest supermarkets of failing to address “human suffering” in their complex, global supply chains.
EU Regulators Seek Tech Business-Model Changes

July 24, 2019

Politico reports that EU regulators are increasingly focusing on “structural remedies” for tech companies that fail to meet EU data standards, including by creating barriers preventing corporate subsidiaries from combining user data.
UN Agency Forms Alliance on Methane Emissions

July 24, 2019

The UN Environment Programme recently announced that it is forming a Global Methane Alliance to pressure oil and gas companies around the world to focus on reducing methane emissions as a major culprit in the catastrophic impacts of global warming.
NGO Accuses Australian Banks of Financing Rights Abuses

July 18, 2019

The nongovernmental organization Friends of the Earth Australia has accused the largest four banks in Australia of financing companies engaged in the palm oil trade that are involved in environmental and human rights abuses in foreign countries.
Canadian, UK Courts Adopt New Theories on Foreign Suits

July 17, 2019

The Financial Post reports that courts in Canada and the UK are increasingly warming to legal theories permitting them to hold parent companies liable for the alleged human rights violations of their foreign subsidiaries, given a certain level of involvement by the parent in the affairs of the subsidiary.
Shareholders Turn to Disclosure Rules to Force Climate Action

July 17, 2019

The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre’s most recent bulletin on corporate legal accountability focuses on the growing, global movement among shareholders to file lawsuits accusing companies of providing false or misleading information about the threats climate change poses to their operations.
Refinery Cuts Ties with Artisanal Mines over Due Diligence Costs

July 10, 2019

Signaling industry blowback to “due diligence” initiatives requiring companies to address human rights impacts in their global supply chains, Swiss gold refinery Metalor Technologies has announced it will cease importing gold from artisanal mines due to the cost of tracking impacts of such mining operations.
Facebook Audit Spotlights Alleged Rights Impacts

July 02, 2019

Facebook’s recent update on its civil rights audit, led by a former director of the American Civil Liberties Union, highlights the social-media giant’s broad acceptance that it must report on and address the alleged influence of content on its platform on the global human rights agenda, including through the promulgation of “hate speech.”
Cities, NGOs: Total Violates French “Duty of Vigilance” Law

June 26, 2019

14 cities and 4 nongovernmental organizations have threatened litigation against French energy company Total for allegedly failing to comply with a new French law imposing a “duty of vigilance” on companies by declining to publicly report how it plans to address its impacts on climate change.
Researchers Highlight Rise of Shareholder Climate Litigation

June 26, 2019

Researchers from the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre have published a blog post describing a range of legal strategies employed by shareholders seeking to force corporations to report on or address their impacts on global warming or the impacts of global warming on their business.