British gov watchdog wants privacy tought in schools

The British Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said data privacy should be part of the national curriculum.

It launched a research project to explore ways of getting information rights issues covered in primary and secondary education systems in the UK.

ICO head of strategic liaison Jonathan Bamford said the British Freedom of Information Act was important to hold decision makers to account.

"By being aware of their rights to access information, young people will feel more empowered to ask important questions about the things that matter to them," Bamford said.

“While we appreciate that some information rights issues are already covered in specific subjects encompassing IT and law, we want to see a move towards schools embedding information rights issues as part of the mainstream education process, giving young people skills that will serve them well throughout their adult lives.”

A ICO project aimed to ensure young people were aware of privacy threats and how to guard against them using available practical and legal safeguards.

It would also explore how young people could exploit the increasing availability of public information.

British research found that of 4000 young people questioned, 88 percent of secondary school and 39 percent of primary school children have a social networking site profile.

Yet 60 percent of respondents had not read social networking sites' privacy policies, 32 percent didn't know what a privacy policy was and 23 percent said they didn't know where to find it.

This article originally appeared at scmagazineuk.com