Segment

Materials

Introduction (5 Minutes)

  • Encryption is the process of encoding information for security purposes.
  • It has been used for centuries in both simple and complex methods.

Presenters

Activity – Encryption: The Play (20 Minutes)

  1. This activity introduces students to encryption in computer science and evaluates its impacts from a social computing standpoint.
  2. Groups of 4 delegate roles to one another – 2 are “senders” (one is “Alice”, the other is “Bob”), one is a “mailperson”, and the other is the “post office”.
  1. Each sender has a pencil, everyone gets different colors of sticky notes.
  1. In the first round, Alice writes a note for Bob and the mailperson delivers it. However, the mailperson gossips about the contents of the note. Tell students that in earlier days of the internet, people trusted each other, mitigating the need for encryption, but a rise in internet use meant that these types of breeches would be more common. Ask students to brainstorm solutions.
  2. In the next round, Alice gets a padlock and a key from the post office, then writes a message to Bob and locks it for the mailperson to deliver. The post office keeps two copies of the key, giving Bob a copy so he can open the note and write one for Alice. Alice will write a note, then will lock it with the padlock from Alice, then give it to the mailperson to deliver. Tell students that this was an effective way to keep data secure from individual people, but might not work so well to keep notes away from websites/companies. Ask students to brainstorm solutions.
  3. In the final round, Alice and Bob each get an original key, a copy of that key, and a padlock. Alice writes a note for Bob and places the note and copy of the key under the padlock. She then gives it to the mailperson, who then delivers it to Bob. Explain that in today’s web where governments/companies are seen as untrustworthy, this method of encryption makes it so that data is secure from both individuals and larger organizations.

Participants

  • Pencils
  • Sticky Notes
  • Different Colors

Reflection (5 Minutes)

  • Talk about what each element represents (sticky notes are given, Alice/Bob are senders, mailperson is a “hacker”, post office is the web/government).
  • This is asymmetric encryption, where public keys (inside the padlock) and private keys (kept to self) are used to secure data online.

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Connector (5 Minutes)

  • Although such security has its advantages, there are cons too.
  • People could end up using it more for bad, where they send messages to each other that could result in harm (bullying, etc.).
  • As a result, some people want to ban more secure methods on encryption, such as governments and large companies.

N/A

Closing Activity – Encryption Debate (15 Minutes)

  • Does the good outweigh the bad when it comes to encryption?
  • Ask the room to form three teams: pro, against, and neutral.
  • Each team gets 5 minutes to complete a handout to prepare for the debate.
  • Neutral members must have reasons for both sides.
  • Reconvene the room after a 1-minute warning.
  • Follow the “05.04 - Debate Structure” document to encourage fair conduct.
  • At the end of the debate, the jury (neutral members) can convene for 1 minute to decide a winner and provide reasoning to their decision; distribute surveys.

Participants

Presenters