Apps, games and websites have rules, but you also have rights online.
Today you will learn about four of them: information, free expression, protection of minors and data protection. Minors are young people under 18.
You will see each right in a situation and decide what it lets someone do next.
In Ireland, laws about personal data and online safety help protect these rights.
You still have your rights when you use apps, games, school posts and search results. These four matter most today.
- Information means you have a right to clear facts, and to check where they came from.
- Free expression means you can have your own views and share them, as long as you do not cause real harm to others.
- Protection of minors means under-18s get extra care, such as apps designed for their age and controls on what they see.
- Data protection means you have a say over personal information about you.
Work with a partner. In Rights Inbox below, a phone has four new notifications, and each one is about one of the four rights.
- Open the notification and read it together.
- Pick the right that matters most here.
- Pick the two steps you would take, then press See what happens.
- Read what happened. Green shows a step that worked, and red shows a step that did not.
- Wait for your class before you open the next notification.
You get one point for the right and one for each step that works, so 3 for each notification and 12 in all. Be ready to say why you picked each right.
Rights Inbox
Work on your own or with a partner, and write your answers in your copy.
- Read Situations A to C below and decide which of the four rights is mainly involved in each one. Use only the four labels information, free expression, protection of minors and data protection.
- For at least two situations, write one clear sentence about what the young person could do next. If you are short on time, just write the right for the third one.
 | Situation A A music app shows Róisín a screen of ticked boxes for sharing her listening history with advertisers. The option to say no is tiny and easy to miss. She wants to know what data leaves the app and how to refuse. |
 | Situation B Tomasz runs a small class podcast review channel. He posts a clip of himself calmly disagreeing with a popular creator. Overnight the app makes the clip age-restricted, which means only older users can watch it, so none of his classmates can open it. The app gives no reason, and there is no way to appeal, which means asking the app to look at its decision again. This situation may seem to fit more than one right, so pick the one that matters most and be ready to say why. Then think about what Tomasz could try next, and what a fair app should do for him, such as tell him the reason. |
 | Situation C Jamie's school app sends a notice that the bus route is changing "from next week". There is no date, no map of the new stops, and no one named to contact. Jamie needs to know whether the stop near home is still on the route. |
When you have finished A to C, write your own situation in two sentences, set in a game, an app or a school post your class would know. Swap with a partner, and they name the right and one next step. If time is tight, you can finish this part for homework.
If you finish early, or for homework, read Situation D. Name the main right and write one next-step sentence.
 | Situation D Sam asked a local sports club not to post photos of them on the club's public social page. After a match, a group photo including Sam is uploaded publicly with first names tagged. |
Check that each of A to C has one main right, and that at least two have a next-step sentence about what to do, not just a feeling. If there was time, check that you swapped your own situation with a partner.
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