Do Not Sell My Personal Information

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• Reflect on the concept of privacy and the types of information they are willing to share online
  
• Understand how internet companies use people’s personal information.
  
• Analyze California’s new data privacy law.

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Materials

For each pair:

• Notebooks/paper
• Pens/pencils
• A device for accessing the internet such as a laptop, tablet, smartphone, or desktop computer
• Video recording device, such as a cell phone

For the whole group:

• Smartboard or projector, for displaying videos

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Preparation

• Read through and familiarize yourself with the entire activity.
• Gather materials for each group.
• Ensure access to and preview the videos (see links below).
• (Optional) Search the web and create a list of website that have the button that complies with California law to share with students.

Resources:

"How to Keep Your Data Private" Video

TBD - To update

Activity Steps

1. Have students list some examples of websites that they have to register with before they can use the site. Create a list on the board as they share their responses.
2. Ask students if they have shared their personal information online through social media or other websites. Invite volunteers to talk about why they share their personal information or how they have tried to remove their personal information.
3. Show the videos "How to Keep Your Data Private" and "What is Really in the Privacy Policy?" pausing as needed to answer questions and to review key content.
4. Tell students that the state of California recently passed legislation to make it harder for tech companies to access and share people’s personal information. Share the following:
   A California law that went into effect on January 1, 2020 makes it harder for companies to sell or share your personal information. Many of these companies are online technology companies, including social media sites. They must now have a link or a button on their website that users click to indicate that they do not want their personal information sold. Implementing these changes are costing companies billions of dollars.
5. Point out that even though this is a California law, it will affect many people around the world because these tech companies do not necessarily have sites that are specifically for California users.
6. Divide students into small groups. Ask them to discuss how this California law might affect users around the country and the world.
7. Then, have them to write and record a public service announcement (PSA) to inform people about this law and how it can affect them. Explain that this type of announcement generally describes new information and states relevant facts, but generally does not argue a point of view or insist on people's actions. 
8. As they work, encourage students to research specific examples of companies that are similar to the examples used in the video, such as Sleep Number or Starbucks, in order to include them in their PSAs.
9. Have each group take a video of their PSA. Tell them they may wish to include audio and video clips to make their PSAs more interesting and engaging for the audience.
10. Reconvene the whole group and invite each small group to share their PSAs.
11. Have students vote for their favorite PSA. Announce the winner.
12. Then discuss these or similar whole-group questions:
    
    • Why is this law important? (Possible answer: It will help keep people’s personal information safe. It won’t just affect people in California. It will make it more difficult for tech companies to collect and sell personal information.)
    • Why do you think this law was passed just in California? (Possible answer: There are many tech companies in California so residents are probably more knowledgeable and understanding of how these companies collect and sell personal information. There may have been a strong movement that formed to push for this legislation.)
    • Based on what you viewed in the PSAs, which kinds of companies are prone to collect and sell people’s personal information? Why do you think this is the case?

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Variations

1. Have students write a letter or email to their state representative to urge him or her to work for legislation to protect people’s personal information online, using the California law as a model.

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