Data Privacy Week

January 26 – 30, 2026

This Data Privacy Week, take control of your data.

According to the National Cybersecurity Alliance, Data Privacy Week is an international effort to empower individuals and businesses to respect privacy, safeguard data, and enable trust. Each Data Privacy Week usually has a theme and occurs during the last week of January. The goal of Data Privacy Week is to spread awareness about online privacy. The Alliance’s goal is twofold: “we want to help citizens understand that they have the power to manage their data and we want to help organizations understand why it is important that they respect their users’ data.”

Civics of Technology is offering two Zoom sessions focusing on aspects of data privacy, with content appropriate for faculty and students.

Moderated by Morgan Banville.

Jaime Taylor and Andrea Puglisi
January 28, 6:00-7:30 PM EST
Register here
What does privacy mean in a human society where technologies and corporations are designed to extract, share, and monetize data without public understanding or will? Who benefits, who pays the price, and who decides? Led by two public higher education librarians who spend their days working towards making systems work for the common good, this two-part session will examine how design choices, power structures, and economic interests shape the development and adoption of software and systems. Together, these sessions will encourage reflection on whether commercialized, extractive platform-based technologies are capable of advancing the public good, and highlight the necessity of privacy, consent, and public will in system design and integration.

Eliza Bettinger and Reanna Esmail:
January 29, 6:00-7:30 PM EST
Register here
Privacy is, as the American Library Association, asserts, “the bedrock to intellectual freedom.” The right to read, research, and write in an environment free of surveillance is important to the process of creating new knowledge, and creative endeavors. Yet, protecting your digital privacy is no easy feat, especially as increasingly the systems we use to read, research, and write are digital mediated. Whether that is reading on a digital device, using digital databases or online search engines to find resources, or sharing your research and writing via social media— navigating today’s information landscape requires a security mindset.

This digital privacy literacy workshop will focus on proactive and reactive strategies individuals and collectives can take to better protect privacy. We will provide some baseline information and knowledge to help participants understand how the internet works. We will provide strategies for identifying potential risks to privacy, security, and anonymity encountered day to day while conducting personal or academic tasks digitally. The workshop will also touch on topics such data brokerage, artificial intelligence, algorithms, and virtual private networks.

Visit the Privacy Event Page to learn more and submit questions for the speakers.