Level: Grades 11 - 12
Overview
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This unit is designed to help students develop a critical awareness about privacy and the security of personal information. Through a series of activities and class discussions, students shall learn about the different forms of privacy protection that exist in the public and private sectors; discover how private information can be manipulated for the purpose of direct marketing; and examine the impact of new technologies on privacy research.
Learning Outcomes
Students will:
- learn about the different forms of privacy protection that exist in the public and private sectors
- discover how private information can be manipulated for the purpose of direct marketing
- examine the impact of new technologies on privacy
- research and analyse information concerning a number of privacy issues
- develop critical thinking skills in determining personal ideas on privacy issues
Preparation and Materials
Photocopy the following student handouts:
Procedure
Introduction
New and converging technologies are providing us with a new range of opportunities. Everything is available to us from our homes: we can do research in libraries around the world; we can do our shopping and banking through the television or the computer; we can watch a recent feature film by dialing up the "pay per view" channel; and we can even join conversation groups on the Internet.
There is, however, a downside to the information society. Every purchase you make using a cash or credit card, every phone call you make and every e-mail message you send leaves a digital trail. This trail can be picked up by sophisticated computers, which can access information about your lifestyle, your consumer choices, and your credit rating.
In 1995, Ekos Research Associates Inc. released a survey of 3,000 Canadian households called Privacy Revealed: The Canadian Privacy Survey. The survey results showed that 92% of all Canadians felt at least "moderate" levels of concern about personal privacy, while 52% expressed "extreme" concern.
There is a pervasive sense that personal privacy is under siege from a wide range of technological, commercial, and social threats.
Distribute Privacy: What's the Issue?
Have the students jot down the personal numbers and codes that give information about them (SIN, licenses etc.). Review the students' information as a class and begin a discussion on privacy.
- What have you heard in the news about this topic?
- What are your concerns about issues of privacy?
- Have you or your friends ever been affected by an invasion of privacy by a company or government agency?
Have the students review A Day in the Life.
After reviewing the handout, do your students have any other comments about, or insights into the privacy issue?
In small groups, have students develop a definition of privacy.
- What factors should be taken into account?
- Should there be separate definitions for individuals and specific groups?
- Do the definitions take into account private, corporate, and government interests?
Keeping their definitions of privacy in mind, have the students read The Canadian Standards Association (CSA) The CSA Model Code for the Protection of Personal Information and answer the following questions:
- How well does the code address your concerns about privacy?
- Are your definitions of "privacy" addressed by the code? What needs to change? Do you need to redefine privacy?
- This code is strictly voluntary. Government officials and consumers' rights advocates are divided as to whether it would be more effective if enacted as law. David McInnes, of the Canadian Bankers' Association, argues that "self-regulation is flexible and efficient" and feels that we should resist the intervention of the state. Do you agree or disagree?
Homework
Construct a Personal Privacy Grid.
Instruct students to enter their personal information, based on the following list, onto a grid:
- Name, address, age, sex, race, occupation, employer, income, social insurance number, credit card numbers, education, religion, political party, driver's license, years of employment, disabilities and diseases, conflict with the law or involvement with the police, parents' names, marital status, and previous employers.
Then:
- Have students put a check mark beside the information they would feel comfortable giving to an employer. Place a question mark beside the ones they would object to.
- Ask students to account for their objections.
Have students review their Personal Privacy Grids with one another.
- What do the results reveal about their views regarding privacy?
- How do their "objections" compare to those of other students?
- Were there any common characteristics within the class regarding attitudes towards access to personal information?
Activities
Activity One: Group Assignments
Give students the opportunity to research and analyse a specific topic of the privacy debate. Divide the class into groups asking each group to be responsible for researching and presenting the collected data on one of the topics listed bellow.
To give the students a further focus in their research, have them consider their privacy topic from a number of viewpoints. It is important that students take into account the different perceptions of various interest groups regarding a particular privacy concern. (e.g. the individual, business, advocacy groups, and private business). What are the threats to each (or some) of these groups? What did the students find surprising or shocking in their research?
Topics
1. The potential dangers of electronic surveillance.
2. The use of encryption, blind signatures, and protected smart cards.
3. The collection and sale of children's personal information on the internet.
4. The best ways of safeguarding your personal information.
5. Contact a variety of employers/owners including government, large corporations, and smaller businesses.
- Explain your purpose in contacting the person and collect application forms.
- Ask to speak to the person who would be the spokesperson for concerns relating to privacy.
- What is the company's policy concerning privacy (is it written down?)?
- How secure is the personal information of the employees and customers?
- What are the concerns of the employers?
- Summarize the privacy policies of the employers you have contacted.
- What concerns did you identify when reviewing the application forms and in speaking with the spokesperson?
- How would you resolve the dilemmas and/or problems?
Activity Two: Respond to Quote
"Most Canadians see the role of protecting privacy as a government responsibility or perhaps a partnership of government and business. At the same time, many Canadians feel the individual has a strong role to play in solving privacy problems. Two out of three Canadians believe that it is 'up to the individual' to solve privacy problems. These are not inconsistent responses. Most Canadians are seeking a shared division of responsibilities amongst the individual, government, and business."
From Privacy Revealed: The Canadian Privacy Survey
- Discuss this quotation.
- Individually or as a class, decide what aspects of privacy should be addressed by the individual? by government? by business?
- Explain your reasons.
Activity Three: Class Debate
Stage a debate on one or more of the following propositions:
- Government record-keeping threatens personal freedom and dignity.
- Modern electronic technology has become a curse rather than a blessing.
- The privacy issue is second only to "the net porn versus free speech" debate in terms of controversy and publicity.
Activity Four: Privacy and Literature
The two best-known dystopias of the twentieth century are George Orwell's 1984 and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Orwell describes a world of surveillance in which every move of our private lives is monitored and we are controlled by fear. Huxley, on the other hand, describes a world that needs no surveillance since the state provides endless amusements and distractions for the population. People in such a state can be easily controlled. They are so caught up in their games that they are politically indifferent.
- Weigh the pros and cons of these two situations. To what extent do you believe that our society is like 1984? To what extent like Brave New World?
- Write a dystopian piece on society as it exists today. Draw upon what you have learned in class to provide details in your writing.
Evaluation
- group presentation
- summary sheet of facts submitted by each group
- written report (optional) or advocacy letter
- class discussion
- debate
- written response to 1984 and Brave New World
