Data: Public and Private

Not a day goes by in the developed world when some form of interaction or transaction requires the sharing of personal information. We all take informed decisions about the information we wish to share - often our name, date of birth, address and contact numbers are high on the list. Increasingly, purchasing goods and services on the internet or join social networking sites will also require an email address too.

An increasing concern amongst parents and carers as well as educationalists is the apparent lack of awareness amongst children and young people about the boundary between private data and public data. Often, they appear all too willing to share what many would consider to be private data and information about themselves without understanding the short and long term consequences.

Social networks in particular have attracted a lot of attention recently as they become increasingly popular. However, as many have discovered, it is often very difficult to remove private information because it very quickly forms part of the public domain. Sometimes the facility to edit or remove data and information is extremely difficult after the event. In addition, search engines efficiently trawl and cache information from web pages - creating a secondary source or archive which is readily accessible to anyone, anywhere at anytime.

Just as in real life, we all have to think carefully about sharing our private information. Many children and young people need help and guidance to fully appreciate and understand the boundary between "private" and "public" when sharing electronic data and information. They need the confidence to act decisively before sharing private data and avoid this becoming embedded in the public arena for many years to come.

The challenge for parents, carers and educators would seem to be:

How is it best to support and help children and young people in making decisions about sharing private data and information in our increasingly "virtual world"?