The internet offers children tremendous opportunities to learn and to explore new ideas. However, children's freedom to explore and develop should not be limited due to lack of awareness of privacy-protecting strategies. We will develop a textbook to help kids both become more aware of risks and of tools for privacy protection as they explore and learn online. This represents a crucial step to help kids make safer and informed choices, what to share and how to share online.
Younger internet users often possess insufficient knowledge of how their reputations can be affected by their interactions online. Sometimes it is not easy to tell who someone really is online, and there are many reasons for which people or businesses might try to get personal information about kids or their families. However, parents and teachers cannot always be on hand, which is why it is important to empower kids to also protect their own online privacy.
We want to teach children what they need to consider to protect themselves online. This international project will provide them with the necessary tools for safe and responsible use of the internet and their mobile devices. The goal is to create material, translated into as many languages as possible, that can be used in schools, at home and elsewhere. The main activity will be the publication of a textbook to explain how the internet works, with practical examples, exercises and sample lessons.
Kids who learn how to handle apps and know how to responsibly use social networks online will be empowered to transmit knowledge to their friends and train other kids. Teaching kids about their privacy online also has the broader benefit of raising awareness about the right to privacy being a crucial element of our personal security, for free speech and for democratic participation.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
