The BHR Group Digital Rights Careers Newsletter - Issue 12

May 08, 2023

Dear Colleagues:

Since we gather listings for internships, fellowships, and jobs at the intersection of technology, policy, law, and human rights, I should note that at first glance – and if you don’t include the large number of open positions at TikTok – there seem to be fewer open positions in digital rights related fields at tech companies than at any time in the past year. The tech layoffs, including staff reductions in trust & safety, human rights, AI ethics, and related fields, have been accompanied by hiring freezes at many tech companies too. Not good.

But don’t be too discouraged if you’re looking for a position inside the tech industry. There are still many more open positions today than there were even a few years ago. Ten years ago, when I started sending around job listings, you could fit all the open positions on one screen on your mobile device. The financial markets have an ebb and flow that drives so much of corporate decision-making, especially on hiring; but, the significance and urgency of the global work at the intersection of technology, policy, law, and human rights is only trending in one direction. It’s more important and urgent than ever. The reset on staffing in digital rights in companies will come one way or another; let’s hope it’s soon and through foresight and leadership and not, as too often happens in companies, in response to a series of crises.

If you’re set on finding a position inside a tech company and aren’t having luck right now, then consider building formative experiences and knowledge in civil society, government, think tanks, international organizations, multi-stakeholder initiatives, etc. You’ll find that work deeply fulfilling and impactful. And if you do return to or start in industry, you’ll be a more capable and effective leader and human rights champion inside a tech company.

You also might take a cue from this month’s guest practitioner – Vivek Krishnamurthy – a friend and professional colleague for 15+ years who has forged a career path that’s landed him at the center of technology and human rights thinking, scholarship, and practice. His teaching, writing, and clinical legal practice focuses on the regulatory and human rights-related challenges that arise in the digital world, and he advises governments, activists, and companies on the human rights impacts of new technologies.

I’ve been fortunate to have worked with Vivek not only when he was a legal associate supporting our human rights work but also as a thought partner on various vexing digital rights issues over the years, including working together on accountability approaches at the Global Network Initiative. He’s an outstanding thinker and do’er in the field of business and human rights, and his students, clients, and colleagues have counted on his wise counsel for many years. Check-out the excellent career advice Vivek offers below as a practitioner-academic.

Michael Samway
The Business and Human Rights Group
Website: www.thebhrgroup.com

Guest Spotlight: Vivek Krishnamurthy

Vivek Krishnamurthy is the Samuelson-Glushko Professor of Law at the University of Ottawa and Director of CIPPIC—the Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic. Vivek was previously the Assistant Director of Harvard Law School’s Cyberlaw Clinic and Counsel in the Global Business and Human Rights Practice at Foley Hoag LLP. He is a Rhodes Scholar and clerked for the Hon. Morris J. Fish of the Supreme Court of Canada upon his graduation from Yale Law School. Vivek is currently a Faculty Associate of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, a Senior Associate of the Human Rights Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and an alternate member of the Global Network Initiative’s Board of Directors.

What are some of the most formative periods or events in your life that shaped your work in technology, media, and human rights?

The most formative period in my professional life was – believe it or not – a summer job I had way back in 2007! I was in law school at the time, and a friend who was a year ahead of me told me of a great experience they had the previous summer working in what was then called the "Corporate Social Responsibility" practice in the Washington DC office of Foley Hoag LLP. I interviewed for a position with the firm and I was very lucky to be accepted!
At the time, most business and human rights conversations were focused on extractive industries (such as oil, gas, and mining) and the light manufacturing sector (e.g., footwear and apparel). The late John Ruggie was still in the early stages of his work as the UN Special Representative on Business and Human Rights. It wouldn't be until the next year that he published his famous "Protect, Respect, Remedy" framework, which went on to form the foundation for the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
That summer, Yahoo was a client of Foley Hoag's CSR practice as the company was coming to terms with its Chinese subsidiary's actions in turning over emails belonging to the journalist Shi Tao to the local authorities, which led to his conviction for political crimes. You were on Yahoo's in-house legal team at the time, and I remember working with you and your colleagues who were working to build the first Business and Human Rights team at a tech company. I also played a small part in writing a memo on what the tech sector could learn from the approaches other sectors took to the human rights challenges they faced, which in time led to the formation of the Global Network Initiative.
Were it not for the serendipity of that summer job so many years ago, where I had the chance to work with you on the emerging human rights challenges facing the technology industry, I don't know if I'd be in this field! But here I am and here we both are today!

What's something you didn't expect at work in this field?

Something I didn't expect when I started in this field is just how complex large companies in all industries tend to be. I first got interested in business and human rights as a high school student campaigning against abusive labor practices in the apparel and footwear sectors, and I had assumed that corporations were monolithic entities that were just interested in making as much money as possible. Of course, companies are in the business of making a profit, but they are not one-dimensional actors. They are made up of real people with different backgrounds, experiences, and beliefs, who end up working in different functional roles that seek to pull the corporation in different directions. This is not unlike the theories of bureaucratic politics that explain the behavior of governments, where the defense ministry, for example, might pull the policymaking process in one direction, and the foreign ministry in another. Experiencing these dynamics first hand as a lawyer in private practice and now as an academic involved in multi-stakeholder organizations like the Global Network Initiative has given me new perspectives on how we can improve corporate respect for human rights. External pressure is essential, of course, but knowing how to build, shape, and influence a company's internal processes and politics in favor of human rights can be an incredibly effective way to make change in the world.

For undergraduate or graduate students reading this, what type course or activities (e.g., internships, summer jobs) do you think might be most helpful as they contemplate careers in technology, public policy, media, and human rights?

This is a question I get all the time from my students, and there isn't an easy answer! The challenge is that it's hard to tell what kinds of courses and professional experiences are going to be most valuable to your career when you are making these kinds of decisions, because technology and human rights is a highly dynamic field, and people's interests also have a way of changing over time!
What I usually advise my students to do in the earlier stages of their educational journey is to take courses that help them gain new perspectives on the world, and that build up the skills of writing and analysis that are important for almost every kind of knowledge work. If you’re a student in a professional program, you may want to take some specialized courses in your area of interest, but you should still try to gain the broadest exposure to the different areas of your field—because some of the most effective people out there tend to be those who can act as bridges between disciplines, functions, languages, and cultures. All of this is to say that the best path to a career in technology and human rights might not be to load your schedule full of technology and human rights courses, but to explore those topics in moderation while building your knowledge of the world and your skills and abilities more generally.
One more thing: students often think that you need to have technical knowledge or aptitude to be successful in this field, but that's simply not true. I happen to be a bit of a geek in my personal life, but some of the very best people in this field have a very different relationship with technology in their lives than I do! What they do have, however, is curiosity about how the world works, and the desire to make things better through their work.

For current practitioners in this field, and given your own career experience, what are some considerations when deciding whether to change sectors, say from civil society or academia to the private sector? Or from the private sector to government or civil society?

The BHR Group Digital Rights Careers Newsletter

The BHR Group Digital Rights Careers Newsletter - Issue 12

Guest Spotlight: Vivek Krishnamurthy

Positions in Policy, Law, and Digital Rights

Civil Society/Non-Profits

Press/Media

Boards

Academia

International Organizations

Think Tanks/Research Institutions

Multi-Stakeholder Organizations/Initiatives

Government

Industry

Industry Associations

Firms/Consultancies