Your data and who has it

Ages 13 to 17 Read alone · about 45 minutes

Read together

Every app, website and device can collect data about you: what you click, where you are, what you search, who you talk to. Some of it is needed for the service. Some is collected to build a profile for advertising. Some is sold.

Data is valuable, and once it is shared it is hard to take back. Laws offer some protection. In the US, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 limits data collection from children under 13. The European Union's GDPR of 2018 gives people rights over their data. The Philippines passed the Data Privacy Act in 2012.

You can take control: check permissions, turn off location and microphone access when not needed, limit what you post, and choose services that collect less.

Do it

1. With a grown-up, open the settings of three apps. List which permissions each has (location, camera, microphone, contacts). Do they all need them?
2. Turn off one permission that is not needed. Note what changes, if anything.
3. Read the first paragraph of a privacy policy of an app you use. Write in one sentence what it collects and who it shares with.
4. Make a “digital footprint” map: list where your name, photo and school appear online. Would you want a stranger to see it?

Talk about it

• Which data would you never want to share?
• How can you tell if a service respects your privacy?

For the grown-up

Privacy settings and habits protect against identity theft, tracking and unwanted contact. Talk about what is safe to share, and set a good example. Arrenite's own kids and learning pages collect nothing and use no trackers; there is a note about this in the privacy section of the legal page.

Mark as done

← Previous lesson Next lesson →

Where this comes from

• U.S. Federal Trade Commission, Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA), 15 U.S.C. 6501 to 6506 (1998)
• European Union, General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679), in force 2018
• Republic of the Philippines, Republic Act No. 10173, Data Privacy Act of 2012

Written with AI assistance and checked against the sources listed. Please read it before sharing it with a child.