Discussion Questions

• Have students find the privacy policy for a database that they use frequently (and have printouts of some for students without devices). Ask students to briefly scan these policies and find one or two elements that surprised them. What did they find that they were not expecting? What did they find that they were expecting? Will these findings change the way they use databases?

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• Ask students: how often do you have to agree to a privacy policy before using a database or website? How often do you read through the privacy policy before agreeing to it?

  • Consider sharing the website https://tosdr.org/ with students to let them explore the privacy policies of sites they might be using in their daily lives.

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• Many databases have a clause in their privacy policies that reserves them the right to share patron information if legally required or if the company claims it to be “in good faith.” How might this clause disproportionately harm some communities over others? How do you think they might decide when it is “in good faith” to share patron information?

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• Is there a better way to inform users of how their information is being treated? How can databases format this information so more people are aware of their privacy policy? Ask students to design a way of informing users how their information is being collected and shared that would help inform more people. 

  • Do databases want people to know what their privacy policy is? Why are these policies hidden in long, technical documents?​

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• Share one of the articles from the "Additional Resources" tab on the deal between LexisNexis and ICE with students. What are their initial reactions? Ask them to imagine themselves as the law librarian in charge of managing subscriptions to databases. Would they renew a contract with LexisNexis given this information? As students, what would they want their library to do?

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• Ask students to consider how they will apply the principles they have learned in the session in their daily lives. Are any of them more concerned with the privacy policies they have unknowingly agreed to? Are any students considering changing their usage of databases or other services? Ensure students concerned with the topic have resources to support them (consider sharing some of the resources from this site or any others from your own library).