Practice Privacy in CS Thinking

Use these practice problems to test your method after reviewing the concept explanation and worked examples.

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Quick Recap

The right of individuals to control what personal information is collected about them, how it is stored, who can access it, and how it is used. Digital privacy encompasses data collection practices, consent mechanisms, encryption, and legal protections like GDPR.

Privacy is about deciding who gets to know what about you. In the digital world, your data is collected constantly — privacy is about having a say in that.

Showing a random 20 of 50 problems.

Example 1

easy
A photo-editing app asks for access to your contacts. Is this likely necessary for its main function?

Example 2

medium
A data broker buys your shopping records, browsing history, and address, then sells a combined profile. What makes the combined profile more privacy-invasive than any single source?

Example 3

medium
Explain how a free social media app can still make money. What are the privacy implications for users?

Example 4

easy
Privacy is the right to control what about you?

Example 5

medium
A weather app insists on always-on background location to 'improve forecasts'. What privacy principle does this violate, and what is a privacy-respecting alternative?

Example 6

medium
Why is 'Accept All cookies' without reading risky even though it is fast?

Example 7

medium
A company collects emails for a newsletter, then uses them to build advertising profiles. Which privacy principle is violated?

Example 8

easy
A store offers a discount card that tracks every purchase. What is the core privacy trade-off?

Example 9

easy
Name one device-level safeguard that protects data privacy if your phone is stolen.

Example 10

easy
Privacy is best described as control over what about you?

Example 11

medium
A smart speaker records every voice command. Stakeholders: user, household guests, manufacturer, advertisers. Name the benefits, harms, and a safeguard.

Example 12

medium
Two practices: (a) collecting only the data needed for a feature, (b) keeping all data forever 'just in case'. Which follows good privacy design and why?

Example 13

hard
You want to know if any of your contacts are also using an app, but you don't want to upload your contact list. Which privacy technique lets two parties compute an intersection without revealing the inputs?

Example 14

easy
Encrypting your phone's stored data mainly protects privacy by doing what if the phone is stolen?

Example 15

medium
A free app's business model is 'we sell user data to advertisers.' Classify the main privacy issue and one mitigation a user can take.

Example 16

easy
A website pops up 'We use cookies' and lets you Accept All or Manage. What mechanism is this an example of?

Example 17

easy
You install a flashlight app that requests location. What privacy principle is being violated?

Example 18

challenge
A school district wants to study student outcomes by sharing anonymized records with a researcher. Name two safeguards that combine to reduce re-identification risk.

Example 19

hard
A city wants to release useful aggregate statistics without exposing any individual. Which technique adds calibrated noise to mask individuals while preserving overall trends?

Example 20

medium
Why is reading and adjusting cookie consent preferences (instead of 'Accept All') a stronger privacy choice?
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