Digital Privacy & Technology Guide: Privacy Resources for K-12+

FOSI brings together and highlights the best safety messages, tools and methods to reach parents, children and caregivers.

This program evaluates privacy policies so parents and educators can make smart choices about the learning tools they use with children and students, and so that schools and districts can participate in improving the technology used in K–12 classrooms.

This is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating people about safety, privacy, security and digital wellness. Resources include research-based safety tips, parents’ guidebooks, advice, news and commentary on all aspects of tech use and policy.

OnGuardOnline.gov is a partner in the "Stop Think Connect" campaign, led by the Department of Homeland Security and part of the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education. This is an educational website, providing educators, parents, kids, and others with information on online safety.

General Resource on how to help stay safe online. Good for teens and adults.

Tips for parents concerned about student privacy

A repository for privacy-related guidance documents, reports, codes of conduct, and other resources to help the public navigate complex issues and implement initiatives in privacy-protective ways. Excellent resources on education and youth topics.

These guidelines are intended to provide libraries serving K-12 students a grounding on how to protect student privacy.

This checklist is intended to help libraries of all capacities take practical steps to implement the principles laid out in the Library Privacy Guidelines for Students in K-12 Schools.

Student privacy resources from ALA's Choose Privacy Every Day.

A three-issue collection of downloadable zines discussing big data, ed-tech, and a history of digital privacy.

Interactive toolkit that encourages young people to think about different aspects of their digital lives, from their social media profiles to their passwords, with simple activities for reflection and play.

Developed by privacy advocate, Maty Cropley, this piratebox is stocked with a librarian-crowdsourced privacy-themed music playlist. Borrow one for three weeks for your library program, block party or barricade assault by emailing: odes@riseup.net

The Algorithmic Justice League is an organization that combines art and research to illuminate the social implications and harms of artificial intelligence. #DRAGVSAI is a hands-on workshop that explores identity, gender presentation, face surveillance, artificial intelligence, and algorithmic harms.

Article from the Brennan Center.

Article discussing how school districts are spending more on social media monitoring technology, but there is little evidence it is keeping students safer.

An article sharing the story of a student who recounted their suicide attempt. The article raises questions around the ethics and effectiveness of surveillance tech.

Article discussing how the coronavirus pandemic created a surge in demand for exam proctoring tools and why universities should stop using them.

Bryan Short was a student at the University of British Columbia in 2016 when he got curious to know what information the learning management system at his university had collected on him and how it was being used. What he found left him feeling uneasy.

This article by four members of the Library Freedom Project examines how digital surveillance is utilized to assess student success and academic integrity in higher education. It considers how the COVID-19 pandemic further enabled practices that collect massive amounts of student data with impunity.

Resources on schools and minors' rights.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) outlines legal rights to privacy in the United States for students (and, depending on age, as a minor). These rights apply regardless of citizenship status. This guide covers many school-specific issues of privacy.

Resources from Student Privacy Compass and steps that educators, caretakers and students can take to protect against the increasing of surveillance systems on students as a result of COVID-19 pandemic.

Tips and general information on how to change the settings on a school-owned device to protect one’s privacy.

Student exposes vulnerabilities in his school system's data management practices, and the harms that arise as a result.