Preparation

For this lesson we need two test accounts in order to demonstrate some of the data protection functions. If you have concerns setting up these accounts on your primary device, check out if you still have an old smartphone or an old tablet that you can use for setting up the accounts.

• Google: If you don't have a Google account, create one (e.g. with a fake name) about a month before you hold the lesson and let the account gather data in this time.
• Instagram: Also create an Instagram account. 

Method / Process description

• Exercise "Find me on the Internet": As a warmup exercise let participants gather in groups of 2-3 people.
  • The target is to find out as much information about a person as possible on the Internet in 10 minutes:
    • about you
    • if you have volunteers about a person in the class
    • if you want to include the entire class and have enough devices, let everybody write his or her first and last name and hometown on a snippet of paper, fold the papers , spread them on a table and let everybody pick one. 
  •  What we want to find out about people is:
    • Further information about the persons (contact data, age, family status, hobbies, friends, political statements,...).
    • All publicly available images.
    • Their online activities (public posts, activities on social media,...)
    • Their offline activities (where they go shopping, when and where they spent their last vacation) 
  • Participants can use any tool they want:
    • Search engines
    • Search functions in social media
    • other websites (like sports clubs, websites of their employers,...)
  • After 10 minutes get back in plenum and discuss the results:
    • Was it easy to find information?
    • How much information did participants find?
    • Did they find information that might cause problems?
    • How does the researched person feel about being "stalked"?
• Input: Introduce the topic of public information on the Internet (Module 6 > 6.2. Accompanying children in their use of digital media > Risks for children and young people online > Data Protection & Privacy):
  • Introduce the term "privacy paradox"
  • Tell the story of Target market ad targeting identifying pregnancy of a girl: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/02/16/how-target-figured-out-a-teen-girl-was-pregnant-before-her-father-did/?sh=611a01136668
  • Demonstrate the extent to which big tech companies gather data by showing your Google account data overview (as explained in Module 6 > 6.2. Accompanying children in their use of digital media > Risks for children and young people online > Data Protection & Privacy > Check Google Data). Explain to participants the options how to deactivate the tracking and how to delete the existing information. 

• Exercise "Check your privacy settings": Gather in groups of 2-3 people. Each group should have at least have one device with an active social media app (Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter, Instagram, Tiktok, Snapchat, Youtube...). Let participants search in the settings for 10 minutes which privacy settings they can adjust:
  • Who can see your profile (private vs. public profile)
  • Who can see your profile information (profile image, last online, friends,...)
  • Who can connect with you and contact you (anybody, friends of friends, no one)
  • Who can interact with your posts?

• Group discussion: How do participants feel after the input and the exercise?
  • Did they know before how much information they reveal on social networks or in other accounts?
  • In case they didn't know it, how do they feel now?
  • Do their kids use social media?
  • Did they check the privacy settings?
  • What agreement do they have for publishing content? 
  • Do they monitor what their kids publish?
• Exercise "What I do - and what I don't": Together with participants gather on the board:
  • What you do to protect your own privacy on the Internet.
  • What you do to protect your kids privaty on the Internet
  • What you know is bad for privacy but you still do.

• Input: Teaching children about privacy is as important as adjusting device and app settings. When children are aware why their privacy matters, it is easier for them to remember the basic rules. Recommend parents not to use the term "stranger" but rather talk about "people you only know from the internet". Children very quickly no longer regard strangers as strangers, which is why this definition is easier to understand.
  • Discuss with children what is private and what is public.
  • When in doubt tell them rather not to give information and ask parents before sharing it.
  • Discuss the rights for publishing private information, especially photos and videos in your country.
  • Emphasize the basic rules: no full name, address, phone number, birthday or other contact information.
  • Finally parents should be a good role-model themselves.
• Reflection: 
  • Encourage people to use the "Download my data" function on social media accounts at home. You find it for most platforms in the settings sections under your account or privacy settings. This gives you a copy of all data you have submitted to the platform. It can be very striking to see the amount of data that gathers over time and might make it easier to understand for participants why protecting this data is so important.
  • Use the checklist "Protect Your Child‘s Privacy" at home and check your kids and your own social media settings. 

Download material

• Checklist "Protect Your Child‘s Privacy"

References

• Digital self-defense: an overview of measures to protect privacy, including recommendations for browsers, search engines, mail providers, apps, ... by Digitalcourage: https://digitalcourage.de/digitale-selbstverteidigung