Workshop – ‘Protection of personal data on the Internet’

On November 25 2022, the Library & Information Center of the University of Patras in collaboration with the research team of the CSI-COP project, and with the participation of EESTEC LC Patras, organised the workshop “Protection of personal data on the Internet”. The goal of the workshop was to advocate for Citizen Science, raise awareness among the participants regarding their rights to privacy and allow participants to become (if they wished) part of the research team.

What was the workshop about?

The students of EESTEC LC Patras were asked to conduct a survey regarding the compliance of websites and apps as far as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is concerned. The CSI-COP project encourages users to participate in the creation of a safer Internet by documenting the data they are asked for. Project researchers are then able to extract useful information regarding the websites and apps’ compliance with the GDPR.

Importance of Citizen Science

The contribution of Citizen Scientists to this task is crucial, as a large bulk of information and data can be collected in a short time. The information that different websites ask of us often falls into the category of personal/private data, that we are not obliged to share. Participants gained knowledge about safer browsing modes on the Internet and the protection of their personal data.

The workshop was made within the work packages of the CSΙ-COP (Horizon Europe) and CeOS_SE (Erasmus+) projects. Library staff followed the session in order to develop skills regarding the implementation of Citizen Science activities. The feedback from this event will be compiled into a final report on the skills needed for CS implementation, coming soon.