I do believe that in today’s age many people do treasure physical property more than personal data online. This is likely because of 1) personal property is tangible and 2) more money is required to accrue it. In thinking this way, they often forget or take for granted online privacy and deem it unimportant. In order to combat this effect, I think we need to start teaching kids young about their data privacy. This means implementing programs that teach kids about cybersecurity as young as they’re able to understand it. Something in the vein of the “Family Science” courses we’d get once a year throughout elementary schools: a short, week-long course that gets more advanced as students get older and smarter. Then, once the students reach middle school and high school, they should 1) have multiple computer science-related courses to choose from and 2) learn about cybersecurity in all of them. With big data becoming the next big frontier for computers, it is imperative that we get our children educated early. As for those who are already adults, cybersecurity advocacy groups should be started that run ads promoting healthy cybersecurity practices and that host free/cheap online courses in cybersecurity. To educate them about the potential effects of losing your online privacy, these advocacy groups could fund documentaries about big cybercrimes that cover how they were done, how they could’ve been prevented, and what the losses were as a result of their success. I think these would all go a long way to educate the general public on the importance of cybersecurity and how to implement it into their daily lives.

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