Digital Citizenship: Ethics and privacy

What does it mean to be a digital citizen?

Being a digital citizen is about working to ensure you are contributing to the health and well-being of your communities. How are you contributing to a positive culture online?

Four categories:

  1. Empathy and Community
  2. Positive Technology Use
  3. Sharing Information
  4. Ethics and Privacy

Digital Citizenship: Ethics and privacy                                                                                                      

In the digital world, we can lose control of the information we share. It’s important to respect other people’s privacy and take control of your own.

  1. Use privacy settings.

Apps, browsers and devices have privacy settings that let you limit who sees what you post, control what data companies can collect about you and turn off targeted o personalized ads. If you have an iPhone or iPad, you should be able to turn off data collection for any new app when you download it.

  1. Use privacy tools.

You can also use privacy tools like apps and browser extensions that do even more to stop tracking, and you can choose apps and services that respect your privacy.

  1. Respect other people’s privacy.

Before you share a photo, a video or anything else with somebody in it, make sure they approve. Don’t guess whether they’d say yes: There might be reasons you’re not aware of why somebody doesn’t want something shared. Don’t assume it’s okay to share something just because someone else did.

  1. Don’t pressure people to share anything.

It can be hard to say no to a friend, a boyfriend or a girlfriend, so never push anyone to share something they don’t want to. If you’re a parent, get in the habit of asking your kids before you share photos or videos of them. That will teach them that privacy is important and show that it’s important to get consent before sharing.

Remember, once something is online it’s out of your control – so make good choices about your privacy and others’.