<p>Yes.  You should absolutely identify the specific risks of each technology or tool that you are going to teach and discuss those risks before you assign students to use those technologies or tools.</p>

<p>The exact form of these warnings depends on what exactly you are introducing and the age of the students.  This is also a decision that should be made in the context of a school-wide policy on information technology.</p>

<p>If you're teaching TCP/IP to college freshmen, there's obviously no reason to go off on a tangent about the dangers of sexting.  If you're teaching sixth graders how to use your school's library databases, it's probably not appropriate for you to bring up many of the dangers of the internet.  So of course keep the warnings relevant and age-appropriate.</p>

<p>But if you're assigning students to create a class blog, you should give them instruction about not putting certain personal details on it, about dealing with spam, about creating and protecting a secure password.  If you're using a social media group (like a facebook group for the class) you should remind students about school policies that apply to the group (about swearing, offensive materials, cyber-bullying, cheating).  If you're teaching php development for a database app, you should warn students about SQL injection attacks and other common security risks. </p>

<p>Keep in mind that it's unlikely that you'll encounter students who haven't already used the internet.  My son is four and he's a big fan of YouTube already.  So remember that you aren't really introducing "the internet" - you're introducing a specific tool or technology.  Your obligation is to teach the risks of that technology.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-24T06:57:36.293Z
+1. That was a detailed answer
i--
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-24T17:14:47.183Z
@SagarV To show your support for an answer, you can just use an up-vote. We want to keep comments for further clarification or additional information. As the prompt says, "Avoid comments like '+1' or 'thanks'".
Peter
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-24T06:28:31.273Z
2017-06-24T06:28:31.273Z
Neal Zupancic
<p>Privacy is a very big issue in the present world. People unknowingly share personal information and pictures on social media and have to face many issues. Nowadays even 14 to 15-year-old people have social media accounts. They tend not to be aware of the privacy threats (mainly for girls).</p>

<p>While giving an introduction to the Internet, should I give them a quick brief about the privacy too or should I give it later?</p>

<p>My personal opinion is to give it in the first time, but I am not sure what an expert would advise.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-24T06:27:08.023Z
To whom are you giving an introduction?
ItamarG3
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-24T06:28:12.353Z
aged less than 15
i--
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-24T06:31:12.673Z
I am not a teacher by profession. This is to teach about internet and give a rough idea on CS to some of my relatives
i--
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-24T13:08:59.677Z
I'd love if this was in the site's scope, but based on meta discussions, it is not. https://cseducators.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/93/site-scope-refinement-internet-safety @ItamarGreen you were one of the most verbose opponents of topics like this on this site. I'm glad to see you have changed your mind.
vacip
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-24T13:17:10.990Z
@vacip "This is to teach about internet and give a rough idea on CS" OP's quote. This is for teaching and giving a rough idea on computer science. But this is bordering the "on-topic" territory. I'm not entirely sure it is on-topic, but we'll just wait and see what happens.
ItamarG3
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-24T15:12:53.873Z
This question [was discussed in chat](https://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/59174/conversation/is-internet-safety-off-topic). Specifically, we discussed if it was on topic or not, given that it is currently gaining close votes.
thesecretmaster
<security>
While giving an introduction to the Internet, should I talk about the risks?
# While giving an introduction to the Internet, should I talk about the risks?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-06-24)

Privacy is a very big issue in the present world. People unknowingly share personal information and pictures on social media and have to face many issues. Nowadays even 14 to 15-year-old people have social media accounts. They tend not to be aware of the privacy threats (mainly for girls).

While giving an introduction to the Internet, should I give them a quick brief about the privacy too or should I give it later?

My personal opinion is to give it in the first time, but I am not sure what an expert would advise.

**Tags:** security

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: To whom are you giving an introduction?  
> **username_0**: aged less than 15  
> **username_0**: I am not a teacher by profession. This is to teach about internet and give a rough idea on CS to some of my relatives  
> **username_2**: I'd love if this was in the site's scope, but based on meta discussions, it is not. https://cseducators.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/93/site-scope-refinement-internet-safety @ItamarGreen you were one of the most verbose opponents of topics like this on this site. I'm glad to see you have changed your mind.  
> **username_1**: @username_2 "This is to teach about internet and give a rough idea on CS" OP's quote. This is for teaching and giving a rough idea on computer science. But this is bordering the "on-topic" territory. I'm not entirely sure it is on-topic, but we'll just wait and see what happens.  
> **username_3**: This question [was discussed in chat](https://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/59174/conversation/is-internet-safety-off-topic). Specifically, we discussed if it was on topic or not, given that it is currently gaining close votes.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2017-06-24. Score: 7

Yes. You should absolutely identify the specific risks of each technology or tool that you are going to teach and discuss those risks before you assign students to use those technologies or tools.

The exact form of these warnings depends on what exactly you are introducing and the age of the students. This is also a decision that should be made in the context of a school-wide policy on information technology.

If you're teaching TCP/IP to college freshmen, there's obviously no reason to go off on a tangent about the dangers of sexting. If you're teaching sixth graders how to use your school's library databases, it's probably not appropriate for you to bring up many of the dangers of the internet. So of course keep the warnings relevant and age-appropriate.

But if you're assigning students to create a class blog, you should give them instruction about not putting certain personal details on it, about dealing with spam, about creating and protecting a secure password. If you're using a social media group (like a facebook group for the class) you should remind students about school policies that apply to the group (about swearing, offensive materials, cyber-bullying, cheating). If you're teaching php development for a database app, you should warn students about SQL injection attacks and other common security risks.

Keep in mind that it's unlikely that you'll encounter students who haven't already used the internet. My son is four and he's a big fan of YouTube already. So remember that you aren't really introducing "the internet" - you're introducing a specific tool or technology. Your obligation is to teach the risks of that technology.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: +1. That was a detailed answer  
> **username_5**: @SagarV To show your support for an answer, you can just use an up-vote. We want to keep comments for further clarification or additional information. As the prompt says, "Avoid comments like '+1' or 'thanks'".  

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