Privacy Education

Fordham CLIP's Privacy Educators Program is a first-of-its-kind privacy education program aimed at engaging middle school students in discussions about privacy and its relevance in their lives. CLIP created a series of lesson plans and visual aids to be used by instructors in middle school classrooms to teach students about what privacy is, how it may be relevant to young people’s lives, and how the technologies they regularly use impact their privacy. Specific topics include:

  • Managing an Online Reputation
  • Understanding How Technologies Work
  • Dealing with Social Media
  • Maintaining Secure Passwords

The Privacy Educators Program is supported by a grant from the Digital Trust Foundation. The creation and initial development of this program was supported by cy pres funds from the NebuAd Class Action Settlement awarded to Fordham CLIP by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Curriculum Materials

Fordham CLIP makes the Privacy Educators Program curriculum materials available as a set of free and open source documents.

Manual and Outlines

Teacher Training Manual

Lesson Plan Outlines

In-Class Slides

  • Introduction to Privacy
  • Passwords and Behavioral Ads
  • Dealing with Social Media
  • Technology: Mobile, WiFi, Facial Recognition
  • Reputation

Assessment Tools

Benchmarking Tool - Administer this to students before the first lesson begins

Assessment Tool - Administer this to students after the program's completion

  • In 2012, CLIP launched the Privacy Educators Program, a first-of-its-kind privacy education program aimed at engaging middle school students in discussions about privacy and its relevance in their lives. Based on research conducted by former CLIP Privacy Fellow Jordan Kovnot, CLIP created a series of lesson plans and visual aids to be used by instructors in middle school classrooms. These lessons center on discussions of what privacy is, how it may be relevant to young people’s lives, and how the technologies they regularly use impact their privacy. Specific topics include managing an online reputation, understanding how technologies like cell phones and facial recognition work, dealing with social media, and maintaining secure passwords.

    For the Program's pilot run in spring 2013, CLIP recruited and trained a team of Fordham Law students to teach these lessons to 7th grade students at P.S. 191, a public middle school in Manhattan. Fordham students served in the program on a volunteer basis. Fordham CLIP officially launched the program on October 16, 2013, and now makes the curriculum materials available as a set of free open source documents for any educators who wish to address the many privacy issues teens face as their use of technology skyrockets.

    Institutions from around the country also teach the program for free in their own communities. CLIP would like to thank these academic institutions, as well as Nichole Gagnon and Shawn Mitchell of P.S. 191 in New York, New York for their assistance and for opening their classrooms to our program.

    The Privacy Educators Program is supported by a grant from the Digital Trust Foundation.

  • Participating schools have included:

    • Berkeley
    • Georgetown
    • Harvard-Berkman Center
    • Idaho
    • UC-Irvine
    • NKU Chase
    • Roger Williams
    • Rutgers-Newark
    • Seattle
    • Suffolk
    • Tulane
    • Washington University-St. Louis
    • Yale

  • Fordham Law School Students Volunteer Time To Teach Children How To Stay Safe On The Internet
    CBSNewYork, March 5, 2020

    Fordham law students take on TikTok in online safety classes
    amNY, March 5, 2020

    How to Stop the Next Google Docs Freakout
    Fortune, May 6, 2017

    Growing Number of Public Schools Instruct Students How to Be Safe Online
    NY1 Spectrum News, March 28, 2017

    The Electronic Leash: Safety vs. Privacy
    Nick News Segment, June 18, 2015

    CLIP Awarded $120K Grant to Support Privacy Training Curriculum
    March 26, 2015

    Stocking the Digital Toolbox
    Fordham News, March 20, 2015

    Why social media needs to be taught in high school
    VentureBeat, October 29, 2014

    Teens adept at social media get privacy training
    Boston.com, April 9, 2014

    Teaching kids about privacy and social media gains traction
    CBS News, March 31, 2014

    Fordham Conversations on WFUV Radio with Joel Reidenberg and Cameron Russell
    November 30, 2013

    Washington U. School of Law brings innovative privacy education to middle school​
    November 21, 2013

    Fordham CLIP Launches National Privacy Education Program
    October 16, 2013

  • 2020

    Fordham Law student volunteers

    • Shlomo Rubinfeld
    • Conor Goetz
    • Shona Bolger
    • Joseph Caruso
    • Marin Marinov

    Thomson Reuters volunteers

    • Meagan Crowley-Hsu
    • Emma Lee
    • Lindsey Ramistella
    • Lauren Sobel
    • Dan Weintraub
    • Vlad Pavlovic

    2019

    Fordham Law student volunteers

    • Mateo Hoyos Bedoya
    • Yemi Danmola
    • Hayley Leviashvili
    • Victoria Mobilio
    • Sara Nordstrand
    • Giulio Ricciardi
    • Virali Shah
    • Brittany Thomas
    • Michele Totino
    • Tiffany Troy
    • Adrian Ward

    Thomson Reuters volunteers

    • Meagan Crowley-Hsu
    • Emma Lee
    • Lindsey Ramistella
    • Lauren Sobel
    • Dan Weintraub

    2018

    Fordham Law student volunteers

    • Lauren Bass
    • Wendy Chiapaikeo
    • Mary Katherine Cunningham
    • Yemi (Oluwayemisi) Danmola
    • Alexander Fagella
    • Max Feist
    • Christine Gartland
    • Agnese Gerhard
    • Philipp Lengeling
    • Tommine McCarthy
    • Amber Melville-Brown
    • Daniel Schwalbe
    • Erin Shahinfar
    • Ivaylo Valchev

    Thomson Reuters volunteers

    • Meagan Crowley
    • Benjamin Hess
    • Emma Lee
    • Lindsey Ramistella
    • Lauren Sobel
    • Daniel Weintraub
    • Sarah Yardeni

    2017

    • Vincent Barbuto
    • Anita Carroll
    • Jonathan Dean
    • Matthew DeLuca
    • Danielle Falls
    • Ella Hanover
    • Nadia Kashem
    • Michelle Laksman
    • Victoria Loeb
    • Jessica Margulis
    • Casey Robinson
    • Chandler Rominger
    • Devanshi Shah
    • Vincent Tennant
    • Rilana Wenske

    2016

    • Sam Alexander
    • Lisa Matsue
    • Sydney Lim
    • Kathy Walter

    2015

    • Andrew Bernstein
    • Sara Gates
    • Idalys Núñez
    • Noelle Park
    • Elena Rizzo
    • Inés Spinnato

    2014

    • Elizabeth Martin
    • Constantine Petallides
    • Moshe Peters
    • Elizabeth Walker

    2013

    • Nicholas Santangelo
    • Tiffany Mahmood
    • Katelyn Patton
    • Victoria Geronimo
    • Laura Lagone

  • Program Introduction

     

     

    What to Expect from Your Students

     

     

    Lesson 1: Introduction to Privacy

     

     

    Lesson 2: Passwords and Behavioral Ads

     

     

    Lesson 3: Dealing with Social Media

     

     

    Lesson 4: Mobile, WiFi, and Facial Recognition

     

     

    Lesson 5: Reputation