by Jayson Jin, Spring 2021 Privacy Intern
During fall 2020, I was looking for an externship for spring 2021 to apply my work experience and legal knowledge. I have worked in different industries, such as education and technology. When I came across the Common Sense Media privacy externship, I immediately applied because I could utilize my work experience and gain legal experience in privacy at the same time.
My externship at Common Sense was entirely remote, and I worked 12 to 14 hours each week. I had a weekly team meeting and a checklist of assignments. I was able to accomplish many exciting tasks, such as privacy evaluations, policy evaluations, and legal research and writing.
Privacy evaluations: I think this is one of the most valuable experiences I gained from the externship. Privacy evaluations at Common Sense Media are similar to the privacy impact assessments widely used in corporations' privacy functions. By working on privacy evaluations, I learned to connect privacy policy language to statutes, and to distinguish specific language that corporations use to collect users' personal information.
Policy evaluations: I worked mainly on policy comparisons of the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC)'s "Fundamentals for a Child-Oriented Approach to Data Processing" versus "Age Appropriate Design Code" from the U.K. Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) as well as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) versus the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA). For the Irish DPC's fundamentals versus U.K. ICO's code, I provided some insights by comparing the two policies so the team could submit a suggestion to the Irish DPC. For CCPA versus CPRA, I offered some insights based on the privacy evaluation questions designed to reflect CCPA and CPRA.
Legal research and writing: I am most proud of my legal research and writing work at Common Sense Media. I am incredibly grateful to my manager, who gave me a chance to work on an article to submit to a law review. I don't think any 2L student can easily get such an opportunity to assist with research and writing an article for a law journal. Without support and help from the privacy team, it wouldn't have been possible for me. Although it was a challenge to complete the article, my manager supported me and guided me through the process to make sure I was able to finish it.
All in all, the externship at Common Sense was an unforgettable experience for me. It allowed me to go beyond book knowledge and apply it to real-world problems. It also allowed me to work with a team of great mentors and learn from each one of them. It was undoubtedly an integral part of my externship, and I now feel more confident and determined about my future path. I strongly recommend this opportunity to prospective students.