Privacy

Summary

Materials

Instructional Activities and Classroom Assessments

Privacy Challenge Activity (10 minutes)
Debrief (10 minutes)
Personally Identifiable Information (5 minutes)
Small Group Discussion (15 minutes)
Whole Group Discussion (10 minutes)
Homework

Learning Objectives

Computational Thinking Practice 5.D.
IOC-1.B
IOC-2.A Describe the risks to privacy from collecting and storing personal data on a computer system.
IOC-2.B
IOC-2.C

Essential Knowledge

IOC-1.B.1
IOC-2.A.1 Personally identifiable information (PII) is information about an individual that identifies, links, relates, or describes them. Examples of PII include:
- Social Security number
- Age
- Race
- Phone number(s)
- Medical information
- Financial information
- Biometric data
IOC-2.A.2 Search engines can record and maintain a history of searches made by users.
IOC-2.A.3 Websites can record and maintain a history of individuals who have viewed their pages.
IOC-2.A.4 Devices, websites, and networks can collection information about a user's location.
IOC-2.A.5 Technology enables the collection, use, and exploitation about, by, and for individuals, groups, and institutions.
IOC-2.A.6 Search engines can use search history to suggest websites or for targeted marketing.
IOC-2.A.7 Disparate personal data, such as geolocation, cookies, and browsing history, can be aggregated to create knowledge about an individual.
IOC-2.A.8 PII and other information placed online can be used to enhances a user's online experiences.
IOC-2.A.9 PII stored online can be used to simplify making online purchases.
IOC-2.A.10 Commercial and governmental curation of information may be exploited if privacy and other protections are ignored.
IOC-2.A.11 Information placed online can be used in ways that were not intended and that may have a harmful impact. For example, an email message may be forwarded, tweets can be retweeted, and social media posts can be viewed by potential employers.
IOC-2.A.12 PII can be used to stalk or steal the identity of a person or to aid in the planning of other criminal acts.
IOC-2.A.13 Once information is placed online, it is difficult to delete.
IOC-2.A.14 Programs can collect your location and record where you have been, how you got there, and how long you were at a given location.
IOC-2.A.15 Information posted to social media services can be used by others. Combining information posted on social media and other sources can be used to deduce private information about you.
IOC-2.B.9
IOC-2.B.3
IOC-2.B.5
IOC-2.C.2

Details

0. Before class begins

Print the Privacy Challenge Activity sheet enough times to give each student a set of directions (there are three sets of directions on one page).
Cut the document so that the directions for each student are separated.
You will need a nametag for every student (or you can use any kind of sticker where you can designate the difference between two groups of students):
- On 1/3 of the nametags, place a blue dot with a marker.
- On 2/3 of the nametags, place a yellow dot with a marker.
As students enter the room, hand out the nametags (you do not have to put their names on them) to the students.

1. Privacy challenge activity 1 (10 minutes)

Tell the students that each one of them will be receiving a set of instructions on a slip of paper.
Once they receive the instructions they will need to complete the task given to them.
Explain to students that some of you will be answering some questions while others are working on a different project. At some point, everyone will complete the questionnaire, but not everyone is going to complete it today.
Give the Student 1 directions to students with blue tags.
Give the Student 2 and 3 directions to students with yellow tags.
Give both groups of students time to complete their assigned task.

2. Debrief (10 minutes)

When the "Student 1" students are finished answering their questionnaire, ask them: As you completed the questionnaire, did you notice anything odd?
Answers will vary, but students will likely say:
- They didn't understand why not everyone was filling out the form.
- The students who were not filling out the questionnaire kept interrupting them.
- The other students were acting suspicious.
Ask the "Student 2 and 3" students if they were successful in their task. If any say yes, have them share the information that they collected.
If "Student 1" students did not figure out what was going on during the activity, they will be surprised that the other students are sharing the information on their paper.
Explain that similar to unknowingly giving information to your classmates, when you use computing devices, you unknowingly give information to companies, marketers, and possibly even scammers.
Ask students who answered the questions what they thought about the questions you asked? (They will likely feel some were invasive.)
Discuss the contrast between their feelings of awkwardness in answering the questions you asked versus their willingness (or lack of realization) that they are giving the same information to others via their cell phones, debit/credit card purchases, loyalty cards, social media posts, web history, etc.

3. Personally identifiable information (PII) (5 minutes)

Play the Sharing Information: A Day in Your Life | Federal Trade Commission video.
Define PII.
Reiterate that they are sharing PII when they place orders, post on social media, use loyalty cards, etc.

4. Small group discussion (15 minutes)

Organize students into groups of 4-5.
You can use the Group Generator program to randomly sort students.
Ask students to use their notes from the Chapter 2 of Blown to Bits to discuss key concepts they gleaned from the reading.
Ask students to use the Blown to Bits Chapter 2 Talking Points page to guide their discussion.
Tell them that they will share their group's thoughts about the questions in bold on the page in a whole class discussion.
Set your timer for 15 minutes.

5. Whole class discussion (10 minutes)

If students finish early, you can move on to the whole class discussion.
Share each question and ask for volunteers, or call on specific groups that you heard sharing interesting insights to the question during the small group discussion.

6. Homework

Read pages 8-16 of Blown to Bits Chapter 5. Students should use the Notetaking template to take notes as they read.

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