Stretch tasks How your data is used

Round 1: Quiz Blitz

1. They earn money from advertising targeted using your data If you are not paying with money, you are usually paying with your data and your attention.
2. One that remembers the items in your shopping basket Necessary cookies make the site work. Tracking cookies are the ones you can reject.
3. False Necessary cookies still run, so the site works. You just stop being followed across the web.
4. Your location; How long you look at each post; What you almost bought Location, attention and near-purchases are all collected. Apps cannot read your mind, but they get surprisingly close.
5. Following you across different websites to build a profile Tracking cookies connect your visits to different sites into one picture of your interests.
6. Adverts can be shown to the people most likely to buy Targeted adverts get more clicks and sales, so advertisers pay more for them.
7. You use a free app → The app records what you do → Your interests are added to a profile → Advertisers pay to reach people like you Your activity becomes a profile, and the profile is what is sold.
8. True Data brokers buy and sell personal data, often without most people realising.
9. Strangers can work out where users live and when they are out A route that starts and ends at the same front door every morning gives away a home address and a routine.
10. cookie Cookies can be necessary, such as a shopping basket, or used for tracking.
11. The service earns from what it learns about you and the adverts you see Free services are paid for by advertisers, who are buying access to you.
12. Which permissions it wants, such as your contacts or location A torch app that wants your contacts and location is collecting far more than it needs.

Round 2: Quick Fire

1. • A necessary cookie makes the site work, such as remembering your basket or login
   • A tracking cookie follows you across other websites to build a profile for adverts
   Model answer

   A necessary cookie makes the website work, for example by remembering what is in your basket. A tracking cookie follows you across other websites to build a profile of your interests for targeted adverts.

2. • They make their money from advertising
   • They use data about you to target the adverts, or sell it
   Model answer

   They make their money from advertising. They collect data about what you do and use it to target adverts at you, or sell it, which advertisers pay well for.

3. • Reject tracking cookies
   • Check app permissions and turn off location
   • Tighten privacy settings
   • Use fewer apps, or private browsing
   • Use a tracker blocker
   Model answer

   Reject tracking cookies on cookie banners, and check each app's permissions, turning off location for apps that do not need it.

4. • It shows what you are interested in and might still buy
   • They can send reminders, adverts or discounts to persuade you
   Model answer

   It shows exactly what you are interested in and were close to buying. The company can send you reminders, targeted adverts or a discount to persuade you to finish the purchase.

Round 3: Big Think

1. • It collects data such as likes, time spent and location
   • It builds a profile of each user's interests
   • It sells advertisers space to show targeted adverts
   • It keeps users scrolling, so they see more adverts
   • It may sell or share data with other companies
   Model answer

   The app collects data about everything users do: what they like, how long they watch each video, who they follow and where they are. From this it builds a profile of each user's interests. It then sells advertisers the chance to show targeted adverts to exactly the people most likely to buy. The app is designed to keep users scrolling for as long as possible, because more time means more adverts seen, and some data may also be shared with other companies.

2. • It lets everyone use the services, including people who could not afford a subscription
   • Data gives useful, personalised recommendations
   • Users can choose, for example by rejecting cookies or changing settings
   • Most people do not understand what is collected: nobody reads the terms
   • Data can be sold, leaked or hacked
   • Apps can manipulate attention, especially young people's
   • Privacy is lost without real consent
   • A reasoned conclusion
   Model answer

   In some ways it is fair. Paying with data means everyone can use the services, including people who could never afford a subscription, and the data makes recommendations more useful and relevant. Users also have some choice, because they can reject tracking cookies or change their privacy settings. However, most people do not understand what is collected, because nobody reads the terms, so it is hard to call it real consent. Data can be sold to other companies or leaked in a breach, and apps are designed to hold attention in ways that can manipulate young people in particular. On balance, the trade can be fair only if it is made knowingly, so companies should have to explain clearly what they collect and make rejecting it easy.

This or That

1. Tracking cookies Tracking cookies follow you across different websites to build a profile of your interests.
2. Accept necessary cookies only Necessary cookies make the site work. Rejecting the rest stops most of the tracking.
3. Knowing your interests Adverts aimed at what you care about sell for far more than adverts shown to anyone.
4. Recommending content and improving products Data is also used to recommend things, to improve products, and is sometimes sold to other companies.
5. Change its location permission Phones let you allow location only while the app is in use, or turn it off entirely.
6. How long you look at each post Services record how long you spend on each thing, not just your clicks and typing.
7. No, but it should be a choice you make knowingly The trade is not automatically wrong, but it should be a decision you make knowing what it is.
8. So you can choose which cookies to allow A banner lets you accept or reject cookies, usually everything except the necessary ones.

Memory Match

• A 3 Cookie: A small file a website stores on your device
• B 6 Necessary cookie: Makes a site work, such as keeping your basket
• C 2 Tracking cookie: Follows you across websites to build a profile
• D 5 Targeted advertising: Adverts chosen to match your interests
• E 4 Location data: Where you are, often recorded all the time
• F 1 Recommendation: Content suggested from what you watched before