In 2012, CLIP launched the Privacy Educators Program, a first-of-its-kind privacy education program aimed at engaging middle school students in discussions about privacy and its relevance in their lives. Based on research conducted by former CLIP Privacy Fellow Jordan Kovnot, CLIP created a series of lesson plans and visual aids to be used by instructors in middle school classrooms. These lessons center on discussions of what privacy is, how it may be relevant to young people’s lives, and how the technologies they regularly use impact their privacy. Specific topics include managing an online reputation, understanding how technologies like cell phones and facial recognition work, dealing with social media, and maintaining secure passwords.

For the Program's pilot run in spring 2013, CLIP recruited and trained a team of Fordham Law students to teach these lessons to 7th grade students at P.S. 191, a public middle school in Manhattan. Fordham students served in the program on a volunteer basis. Fordham CLIP officially launched the program on October 16, 2013, and now makes the curriculum materials available as a set of free open source documents for any educators who wish to address the many privacy issues teens face as their use of technology skyrockets.

Institutions from around the country also teach the program for free in their own communities. CLIP would like to thank these academic institutions, as well as Nichole Gagnon and Shawn Mitchell of P.S. 191 in New York, New York for their assistance and for opening their classrooms to our program.

The Privacy Educators Program is supported by a grant from the Digital Trust Foundation.

Participating schools have included:

• Berkeley
• Georgetown
• Harvard-Berkman Center
• Idaho
• UC-Irvine
• NKU Chase
• Roger Williams
• Rutgers-Newark
• Seattle
• Suffolk
• Tulane
• Washington University-St. Louis
• Yale

Fordham Law School Students Volunteer Time To Teach Children How To Stay Safe On The Internet
CBSNewYork, March 5, 2020

Fordham law students take on TikTok in online safety classes
amNY, March 5, 2020

How to Stop the Next Google Docs Freakout
Fortune, May 6, 2017

Growing Number of Public Schools Instruct Students How to Be Safe Online
NY1 Spectrum News, March 28, 2017

The Electronic Leash: Safety vs. Privacy
Nick News Segment, June 18, 2015

CLIP Awarded $120K Grant to Support Privacy Training Curriculum
March 26, 2015

Stocking the Digital Toolbox
Fordham News, March 20, 2015

Why social media needs to be taught in high school
VentureBeat, October 29, 2014

Teens adept at social media get privacy training
Boston.com, April 9, 2014

Teaching kids about privacy and social media gains traction
CBS News, March 31, 2014

Fordham Conversations on WFUV Radio with Joel Reidenberg and Cameron Russell
November 30, 2013

Washington U. School of Law brings innovative privacy education to middle school​
November 21, 2013

Fordham CLIP Launches National Privacy Education Program
October 16, 2013

2020

Fordham Law student volunteers

• Shlomo Rubinfeld
• Conor Goetz
• Shona Bolger
• Joseph Caruso
• Marin Marinov

Thomason Reuters volunteers

• Meagan Crowley-Hsu
• Emma Lee
• Lindsey Ramistella
• Lauren Sobel
• Dan Weintraub
• Vlad Pavlovic

2019

Fordham Law student volunteers

• Mateo Hoyos Bedoya
• Yemi Danmola
• Hayley Leviashvili
• Victoria Mobilio
• Sara Nordstrand
• Giulio Ricciardi
• Virali Shah
• Brittany Thomas
• Michele Totino
• Tiffany Troy
• Adrian Ward

Thomason Reuters volunteers

• Meagan Crowley-Hsu
• Emma Lee
• Lindsey Ramistella
• Lauren Sobel
• Dan Weintraub

2018

Fordham Law student volunteers

• Lauren Bass
• Wendy Chiapaikeo
• Mary Katherine Cunningham
• Yemi (Oluwayemisi) Danmola
• Alexander Fagella
• Max Feist
• Christine Gartland
• Agnese Gerhard
• Philipp Lengeling
• Tommine McCarthy
• Amber Melville-Brown
• Daniel Schwalbe
• Erin Shahinfar
• Ivaylo Valchev

Thomson Reuters volunteers

• Meagan Crowley
• Benjamin Hess
• Emma Lee
• Lindsey Ramistella
• Lauren Sobel
• Daniel Weintraub
• Sarah Yardeni

2017

• Vincent Barbuto
• Anita Carroll
• Jonathan Dean
• Matthew DeLuca
• Danielle Falls
• Ella Hanover
• Nadia Kashem
• Michelle Laksman
• Victoria Loeb
• Jessica Margulis
• Casey Robinson
• Chandler Rominger
• Devanshi Shah
• Vincent Tennant
• Rilana Wenske

2016

• Sam Alexander
• Lisa Matsue
• Sydney Lim
• Kathy Walter

2015

• Andrew Bernstein
• Sara Gates
• Idalys Núñez
• Noelle Park
• Elena Rizzo
• Inés Spinnato

2014

• Elizabeth Martin
• Constantine Petallides
• Moshe Peters
• Elizabeth Walker

2013

• Nicholas Santangelo
• Tiffany Mahmood
• Katelyn Patton
• Victoria Geronimo
• Laura Lagone

Program Introduction

What to Expect from Your Students

Lesson 1: Introduction to Privacy

Lesson 2: Passwords and Behavioral Ads

Lesson 3: Dealing with Social Media

Lesson 4: Mobile, WiFi, and Facial Recognition

Lesson 5: Reputation