Unit 3 - Discussion 4 Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems (How Companies Make Money Off Your Data)

Discussion Overview

This discussion allows students to critically reflect on their computing practices and learn more about how companies make money through sharing user data for advertising.

Driving Questions:

Is any electronic communication truly private?

What are some of your concerns about social media and privacy?

How do you determine what’s appropriate to share and where?

What is the purpose of maintaining profiles on people?

What kind of information might be useful for an advertiser, for that matter, to know?

Would you consider your data profile a virtual identity?

Should people always have access to this type of information on themselves? Should people have to consent to have this data sold? Is it important for it to be accurate? Why?

Discussion Instructions

1. Either assign students homework to read the following articles prior to the workshop, or designate time prior to the discussions to collectively read them together:
• First 3 sections of Social Media Surveillance and Law Enforcement
• All 4 episodes on Propublica: Breaking the Black Box
• Cybertwee artists are overriding the patriarchy with cuteness
• Please note that these are just example media and any related articles/videos may be identified to spark similar discussions on place of the above links.
2. Use the driving questions to guide and focus the discussions, either as a large group or in facilitated smaller groups with a large-group recap.