The BHR Group Digital Rights Careers Newsletter - Issue 6

Sep 28, 2022

Dear Colleagues:

I’d like to begin on both a personal and professional note. As an Iranian-American and a practitioner in the technology and human rights field, I’ve been especially focused on the wide-spread protests in Iran resulting from the detention, beating, and death of Mahsa Amini at the hands of the Iranian state. As the women-led demonstrations and acts of bravery and defiance continue to spread in cities across the country, authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran have killed dozens of protestors, detained more than twenty journalists, likely arrested more than a thousand citizens, and threated even greater repression. Among other steps in the digital sphere, the government has also disrupted internet and mobile communications services nation-wide, including blocking and censoring platforms like Instagram, WhatsApp, and LinkedIn, which have been used by citizens to document and share evidence of state abuses, organize rallies, and share views on the protests and on state repression more broadly.

To return to the careers theme of this newsletter, I’ll note that the centrality of information technology – whether used by citizens to express opinions, share information, and communicate freely or used by the state in the case of Iran today to censor and surveil its own citizens and spread disinformation inside and outside the country – has been growing for decades. To address these challenges, and those related to private platforms too, we need brilliant, diverse, ethical, committed, and service-focused people like you working across all constituencies in the tech sector – civil society, government, industry, academia, socially responsible investment firms, international organizations, multi-stakeholder initiatives, think tanks, law firms, etc.

From our own far corner and non-scientific view of the job market with about a thousand subscribers to this newsletter, there seems to be strong interest across the globe for internships, fellowships, and part-time and full-time jobs at the intersection of technology, policy, law, and human rights. Either way, I’m certain there’s an urgent need across all constituencies in the tech sector for current and future leaders like you. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say the stakes are extraordinarily high in this sector and include the rights, safety, and even lives of individuals and groups, the rule of law, the future of democracy, and other equally existential challenges. In short, we need you in this field.

Since we focus on careers topics and have begun a practitioner interview series, I’d like to draw your attention to an excellent careers-focused resource I recently learned about called The Responsible Tech Guide. In the Tech Guide, which is produced by the non-profit All Tech is Human, you’ll see lots of helpful resources, including mentorship programs, job postings, and networking events as well as careers-focused interviews with star practitioners from the tech and policy world. Read and learn. I did.

On to our own star practitioner interview. This month’s guest, our first from industry, is Nicole Karlebach, one of the most thoughtful and impactful business and human rights leaders in the tech sector. Nicole, whom I’ve known for a decade, has faced and successfully addressed challenging and consequential human rights issues throughout her career in civil society, a law firm, the UN, two companies, and as a board member of the Global Network Initiative. She’s been global leader of Yahoo!’s business and human rights program, including through an acquisition and various corporate reorganizations, as well as architect and global head of Verizon’s business and human rights program, the first at a U.S. telecommunications company. To return to the initial theme of this newsletter, I should also note that not only has Nicole worked on a broad range of global human rights issues in her career, but she also played an important leadership role on a key issue while at Yahoo! in supporting digital rights for Iranian citizens, steps in synch with both U.S. law and international human rights norms. Nicole’s work was quietly recognized at the time by a number of advocacy groups. I know you’ll learn a lot from following Nicole’s work.

Sincerely,

Michael Samway
The Business and Human Rights Group
www.thebhrgroup.com
Twitter: @MichaelSamway

Guest Spotlight: Nicole Karlebach

Nicole Karlebach is the head of business and human rights at Verizon. In this role, she drives efforts to respect and promote human rights across Verizon and works to identify innovative solutions to human rights challenges. Nicole also supports Verizon's ESG strategy and initiatives.

Prior to joining Verizon, Nicole led Yahoo’s human rights efforts. Nicole also worked as an attorney at Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP in New York; as an international policy fellow at Human Rights First, examining issues of business and human rights and national security law and policy; and as a human rights consultant to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Nicole co-teaches a course on Corporate Sustainability and Transnational Business and Human Rights at Fordham University School of Law.

Nicole received her LL.M. in International Legal Studies from New York University School of Law; her J.D. from Boston College Law School; and her B.A. in Politics and Sociology from Brandeis University.

How did you become involved in digital rights work?

After graduating law school I joined Human Rights First as an International Policy Fellow. At the time, in 2010, there was an effort to launch a program focused on business and human rights. One of the newest and hottest topics was internet freedom. I raised my hand to support the new program and began working on projects related to the role of companies in supporting internet freedom and respecting privacy and freedom of expression. It was a fascinating time to be exposed to this work and I was hooked. When I later joined the law firm, Schulte, Roth & Zabel, LLP I continued to support Human Rights First on these issues pro bono.

What’s an event or period professionally from which you’ve learned a great deal?

I joined Yahoo in 2013 to lead its Business & Human Rights Program (BHRP). It was an exciting role that married my interests in business and human rights with digital rights issues, as well as law, policy, communications and business. At the time, I never expected that my work would be fundamentally changed by a series of corporate transactions that unfolded over the next few years. In 2017 Yahoo was acquired by Verizon and in 2021 Verizon divested Yahoo. Through that period of time I had to change priorities to focus on evolving my work and the BHRP to meet the needs of a new and evolving business, educate new corporate leadership teams on our issues and figure out how our human rights work could fit in a new corporate environment. I learned how important it is to really understand the business when you are in-house, as well as to meet people where they are in understanding the applicability of human rights to their work, and of having both short-term and long-term goals and vision. Ultimately our human rights team was embraced by Verizon’s leadership. Today I lead the Business & Human Rights Program at Verizon which is the first dedicated human rights team at a U.S. telecommunications company.

How do you continue doing what you do, pushing and advocating for digital rights?

Patience. Tech by nature is fast-paced and the business and human rights field is always evolving. New conversations are emerging around realizing the SDGs, mandatory human rights due diligence and how to evaluate ESG impacts. At the same time, human rights remains the standard and substantive analytical framework that the private sector will ultimately be measured against. It takes time to build the processes, policies and governance structures for a company to effectively manage digital rights issues and to be able to anticipate new issues on the horizon. I take pride in the small wins and the efforts of my team to move the needle within our company on a daily basis. With each step we are building a foundation for the future that will help sustain this work for the long-term.

The BHR Group Digital Rights Careers Newsletter

The BHR Group Digital Rights Careers Newsletter - Issue 6

Guest Spotlight: Nicole Karlebach

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