Your burning questions

Q: What happens with my data?

A: Hey this is Sims - great question.
First, personal data: Things like email, username, profile settings, and their connection to reviews is only for you. It will never be shared/sold/revealed. This protection of identity is a core tenet of Canary, and extraordinarily important to us as students.

Review data: The non-personal data we gather on internship experiences is, of course, already made public on the site. Companies and Career centers may see it to improve their programs (see below).

We strive to make it very, very clear what is public and what is not (sorry for all the tooltips 😉).
- Sims

Q: Will my employer know that I wrote a review?

A: While we won't call 'em up and inform them that you left a review, one of our missions with Canary is to help companies make their internships better for students, so we can have better experiences as students. So, employers may reference their page to see what reviews say about them - so if you're worried that your employer can piece together your identity based upon the public data you provide on the Write a review page, feel free to omit it or not leave the review! We never want someone to feel uncomfortable with what they share on the platform.
- Stephen

Q: What info of mine is made public?

A: You can look to the reviews or the Write a review page to see exactly what info is made public. Reviews publicly show school and major, for example. We do this so the reviews are as helpful as possible to the students who visit our site. So it's totally up to you if you would rather not post a review if you feel they share too much info. We totally understand!
- Sims

Q: Why do I need to make an account to leave a review?

A: We do this so we have a way of verifying that you're a real student, and not another party trying to manipulate our platform. If something goes wrong, seems fishy, or we have a question, we need a way to contact you and make sure everything gets sorted out!
- Stephen

Q: Where did the name "Canary" come from?

A: Ever heard the phrase "canary in the coal mine"? Miners used to take canaries into coal mines with them, and the bird would start chirping if there was noxious gas, so the miners could escape before it was too late. Basically, we liked the idea of canaries being a warning to others (avoiding bad internships) or being helpful by sharing information (finding great internships). Of course we hope for a better future for our users than the canaries in the coal mines... let's just say the canary bird population is glad for advancements in noxious-gas-detecting technology...
- Sims