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Privacy & Security

9th Grade Lesson Two: Privacy & Security

The Data Set

Watch this video about how Netflix movie posters might be pandering you...

Reflection Questions:

What kinds of information about yourself do you share online?

Do you share your name and other personal information (when you sign up for apps or websites)?
Do you use likes and dislikes, images of yourself, and other information (when you post on social media)?

Who do you share this information with? Who sees it?

Friends, family?
What about the people and companies that own the apps or websites you post on?

Companies collect the information you share, and also much more. Companies like Facebook, Snapchat, Google, and others also track and collect location, browsing habits, searches, purchases, and so on. This is called Online Tracking.

Online Tracking

Online tracking means apps, websites, or third parties collecting information about your online activity (other sites you visit, links you click, how long you stay, etc.).

Third Party

A Third party is a company other than the company that owns the website or app you are using.

Watch the Video - "Hot on Your Trail" that shows how online tracking works.

What examples of online tracking does the video show?
Did some of these examples seem exaggerated?

What were some of the examples you noticed?

Liz uses Google and Gmail, which means Google can track her email activity, IP address, contact list, searches, where she goes when she uses Google Maps, and much more.
Liz's service providers (internet, cell phone, etc.) also track her behavior and sell it to advertisers (sites she visits, places she goes, etc.).
Advertisers target her with advertisements based on data they've received from Google, her service providers, and many other sites that she's visited, especially her social media, which tracks and sells her likes, her posts, and who she interacts with. This is called targeted advertising.
One way that sites track you is using cookies, which are small text files stored on a computer that keep track of what a person does on a website.
Some places also use cameras and facial recognition technology to track her when she visits.

*Note some of the examples in the video show what could possibly be tracked, rather than what actually is being tracked.

Targeted Advertising

Targeted Advertising is when websites or apps selling you something based on information they have collected about you.

Cookies

Cookies are small text files stored on a computer that keep track of what a person does on a website.

So one way that companies use your data is to target you with advertising. What are some other ways that companies might use the data that they collect about you?

Another way companies use the data they collect is to provide you with personalized content, which is online information that has been tailored to you by websites and apps based on data that has been collected about you.

Some examples of personalized content are...

Netflix recommends movies and shows for you to watch based on what you've previously watched and what you've "liked."
Spotify does something similar with music.
Instagram influencers show off products as ads in their posts, based on market research suggestions.

Can you think of other ways you see personalized content in your digital media?