Internet Sans Crainte workshop for GDPR launch

For the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Internet Sans Crainte team, part of the French Safer Internet Centre(SIC), participated in a "celebration of digital freedoms" (fête des libertés numériques).

Date 2018-07-09 Author French Safer Internet Centre
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Among other actions, a youth panel composed of primary school students was set up in Paris. This panel participated in a workshop on data, animated in cooperation with "Ligue de l'enseignement". The workshop will serve as a model for future workshops on data.

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What is GDPR?

The GDPR is a European regulation that came into effect on 25 May 2018. It includes four main points as follows:

  • Data responsibility (GDPR is in place to consolidate and monitor data).
  • Identification (which relates to the marking of this data). • Security and portability (the user must be notified of where their personal data is stored and whether it has been used for other purposes).

The right to be forgotten (users can request their data to be deleted from platforms).
 

Our pilot data workshop

Through various stages of the workshop, children came to understand what personal data is, allowing them to ultimately learn what their global rights are on the internet.

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The workshop highlighted the age of access to social networks and the age at which children are still required to ask their parents for permission. It also made students think about:

  • what their own personal data is (name, phone number, postal address, password, full date of birth and email address).
  • times when they are asked to give personal data. For example, when connecting to a social network, they provide an email address; personal data which is part of their digital identity. To fill out a form on the internet, it is often necessary to add sensitive data in addition to personal data.

Children were invited to distinguish between what is private and what is public in order to avoid spreading personal and private data. A few principles were brought up together with the group:

  • Websites may have the right to exchange and sell personal data if permitted. We must therefore pay attention to small boxes already checked when one completes an online form.
  • A password exists to protect privacy. Giving it to friends is not logical!
  • If someone's personal data is published without their consent, they may ask that such published data be removed.
  • Everyone has the right to respect for their private life but it is also our duty to respect that of others.

Our rights on the internet: We have the right to access all our personal data… and to rectify it

As a conclusion of this session, a Vinz et Lou video resource was used to show the children that GDPR allowed the removal of personal data:

What did the young people learn during this workshop?

"Do not register before age 13 and you must always ask permission from your parents until you are 16 years old."

"I learned that I do not have the right to have Snapchat and that there are some things I did not know like, for example, I get specific ads because I give personal data. I have to use a private connection so that I do not receive these ads."

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The French SIC has developed a leaflet on data, which can also be downloaded from the Internet Sans Crainte website.

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Find out more about the work of the French Safer Internet Centre (SIC), including its awareness raising, helpline, hotline and youth participation services.

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