This document outlines a proposed online module about privacy. It begins with a series of multiple choice questions about cybersecurity and privacy topics. It then discusses why privacy has become an important issue due to large fines for data leaks. The document proposes what universities should teach students about privacy, including not sharing documents publicly and using encrypted storage. It references the ACRL framework about how information has value and the need to teach students to make informed choices about privacy online. An outline for the module is then proposed, covering identity and social media safety, safe web browsing, device protection, and passwords. The most important lesson is stated to be awareness of privacy issues. It concludes by asking if privacy awareness is the role of libraries and if it should

1. Privacy – the birth of an online module

2. Question 1
Which group is the most frequent victim of
cybercrime?
1. Elderly people
2. Highly educated young people
3. Low-educated young people

3. Question 2
Is the Wi-Fi on the train trustworthy?
1. Yes, it is usually safe.
2. The internet on the train is not safe, so it is
better to work on the train via a VPN
connection.
2.

4. Question 3
Is the university responsible for the data you
collected for your thesis and saved on your USB
flash drive?
1. Of course not; that would be crazy!
As a student, you are responsible for your
own USB flash drives
2. Of course, the university can be held
responsible for any sensitive data on students’
USB flash drives that are left lying about

5. Question 4
Is it dangerous to send your bank account
number to someone via WhatsApp?
1. No, because WhatsApp has end-to-end
encryption.
2. Cybercriminals can’t do anything with your
account number anyway, so it’s no problem to
send it over WhatsApp
3. You should never share your bank account
number, especially not on social media.
2.

6. Question 5
Do you use your university email address?
1. No, I use my regular email address
(e.g. Gmail, Hotmail) whenever I can.
2. Yes, I have forwarded my university email to
my regular email address (e.g. Gmail, Hotmail).
3. Yes of course!
2.

7. Why is privacy suddenly
such an important issue?

8. Big Fines
Data
Leaking

9. How big?
• a warning in writing in cases of first and non-intentional non-compliance
• regular data protection audits
• a fine up to 10,000,000 EUR
• a fine up to 20,000,000 EUR

10. All data?

11. Do we have confidential information at our
universities?
• Personal information of students and employees (name,
address, bankaccount, password)
• Research data on persons and companies (e.g. interviews,
medical data, inside information on companies!)

12. What do we want to teach the students?
• Not to share their (confidentional) documents on dropbox/google drive
• Not to use gmail, but (the protected) mailservice of the university
• To encrypt their laptops, USB flash drive and documents

13. Why libraries?
ACRL
Framework

14. Information Has Value
• give credit to the original ideas of others through proper attribution and citation;
• understand that intellectual property is a legal and social construct that varies
by culture;
• articulate the purpose and distinguishing characteristics of copyright, fair use,
open access, and the public domain;
• understand how and why some individuals or groups of individuals may be
underrepresented or systematically marginalized within the systems that
produce and disseminate information;
• recognize issues of access or lack of access to information sources;
• decide where and how their information is published;
• understand how the commodification of their personal information and online
interactions affects the information they receive and the information they
produce or disseminate online;
• make informed choices regarding their online actions in full awareness of
issues related to privacy and the commodification of personal
information.

15. So we have to teach the students to…
• make informed choices regarding their online actions
• in full awareness of issues related to privacy
• and the commodification of personal information.
>> be a percipient producer of information

16. Outline of the module
• Identity and social media
- Name and address, date of birth, bank account
- Safe use of Social Media (beware of what you post!)
• Safe surfing
- Incognito or private browsing/ searching
- VPN
• Protecting your device
- Passwords
- Cloud services
- Encrypting

17. Most important lesson:

18. There it is…..

19. And they lived happily ever after…?
(university)
library
privacy

20. Discussion
Is privacy awareness a task of the library?
Should it be a compulsory element of
academic skills / media literacy courses?
How far do we (libraries) have to go in
teaching students / the public about privacy?