Digital Citizenship 2018-19

Digital Citizenship 2018-19

Grade 4 - 5 please click on the following link and use the following username to access the account. You will need headphones for this activity.

Media Smarts Start Page

You will be provided with a password to move forward.

Username: nleds10

Password: w4o0nl

You will begin with MyWorld. Follow the online instructions.

Know the deal: The value of privacy

Know the deal

Show the video Know the Deal.

1. Explain to students that the term “personal information” means any information about you or that could be connected to you. Ask for some examples of personal information that were mentioned in the video:

• • Email address

  • Twitter handle

  • Date of birth

  • List of friends

  • Friends’ email addresses

  • Search history

  • Credit card purchase history

  • Location history

  • DNA sample

2. Discuss why protecting personal information is important and why privacy is valuable.

As the video states, privacy is a fundamental human right that allows for free expression. It promotes your autonomy as a person.

Some rights protect your ability to do things – like expressing your opinion – while others guarantee your protection and freedom from certain things, like having your reputation damaged by false statements about you.

The control you have over your personal information is one way that you exercise your right to privacy.

Therefore, it’s important for people to have a certain amount of control over how their personal information is collected, used and shared.

Digital media has increased our ability to express ourselves. But the online world is also creating some challenges for privacy.

Personal information can be collected legitimately and in a way that ensures privacy is respected.

When you deal with a business, it’s your right to know, and be comfortable with, what personal information you are giving up and how it will be used.

You can choose to share your information – or not to share your information – for all kinds of reasons.

3. Next, ask students what they think the video means when it says that we pay for things with information. Obviously the online services students use don’t always openly ask them to give up personal information, as they do in the video, so how do services get it, and how does it make them money?

Explain to students that there are a number of ways that are easy to understand in which personal information can be valuable: the more an insurance company knows about someone’s driving habits, for instance, the more accurately they can price their car insurance. But what about platforms like search engines and social networks, that aren’t charging users money for their services?

Let students discuss this for a few minutes or until one of them mentions advertising. Project the overhead How Online Behavioral Advertising Works and explain to students that most of the money made by these services comes from advertising. The information they collect is funneled to advertising networks that use it to determine what ads to show them on those and other platforms. Ask students to suggest a few things they might search for on search engines, or post about on social networks, that might influence what ads these platforms show them.

Make sure that students understand that the platforms listed on the overhead are only examples; many more types of online spaces gather information and use behavioral advertising. When information is collected, it is sent to an ad network which can connect it with information from different platforms to build a more complete profile of you. Some platforms can also continue tracking people after they’ve left if they don’t log out, and in some cases the ad network and the platforms are owned by the same company.

4. Ask students: What are some things you like about this? What are some things you don’t like about this? Make sure the following points come up in the discussion: