The classroom table was laden with Play-Doh, craft sticks, straws and masking tape, everything a middle-schooler could want to build the tallest tower in class and earn bragging rights over their friends.
And all the stuff was free—with just one catch. If students wanted the items, they needed to provide some personal information first.
The activity last year at Cedar Heights Middle School in Port Orchard was led by seniors Ryan Stege, Matthew Goit and Joe Hainje in order to teach kids about the importance of cybersecurity — and that while some things may look free, like game apps or social media, they come at the price of your personal information. Data given away with hardly a thought can then be sold and used for relatively innocuous reasons like ad targeting or for more nefarious purposes, such as identity fraud.