Behind the CurtainStudent AI Data Privacy

An interactive exploration

What hangs behind the curtain of every AI tool you use?

Every prompt, upload, login, and late-night chat leaves strands of data behind. Walk through four calm rooms. Pull the strands. Trace where your data goes, what gets inferred from it — and learn which questions to ask before you trust an answer.

Enter Room 1
A beaded curtain hanging from a brass rail. Among the strands hang small tags reading Prompts You Type, Class Notes, Private Chats, Browser History, Uploaded PDFs, and Location History.

Each strand is one kind of data. Some you share on purpose. Some is observed. Some is inferred about you.

Four rooms, one question: who knows what about you?

Visit the rooms in any order. Explore strands, add your reflections, then review and export your record.

This site practices what it teaches

No accounts, no analytics, no trackers. Your reflections stay in this browser (localStorage) and never leave your device unless you export them yourself. A “Delete my activity” control lives on the Review page.

Review & export

    A navy plaque beside a stone card reading: You decide where convenience ends and privacy begins.

    Your record of discoveries

    Everything below lives only in this browser. Add your name if you want it on the export, check the commitments you’re ready to make, then print, save, or copy your summary.

    Date:

    My privacy checklist

    Check the commitments you’re ready to make. They’ll appear on your export.

    Questions I would ask an AI provider

    Before trusting a tool with your data, what would you want answered? Start from the questions you met in the rooms, or write your own.

    Export

    Exports are generated entirely in your browser — nothing is sent anywhere.

    How this works

    1. Enter a room. Each of the four rooms holds a hanging data curtain for one part of student life.
    2. Pull a strand. Every strand is one kind of data. Open it to trace the trail: what you did → what was collected → what may be kept → what may be inferred → what could happen next.
    3. Check the labels. Every claim is marked Known (documented), Likely (common practice), or Uncertain (can’t be confirmed). Privacy knowledge has degrees of confidence — that’s the point.
    4. Reflect. Answer two short prompts per room (or choose “prefer not to answer” — that’s a privacy decision too).
    5. Review & export. Build your privacy checklist and take your record with you. Nothing leaves this browser unless you export it.

    Behind the Curtain · An AI-literacy activity by Marc Watkins · Built with Claude (AI-assisted; content reviewed by a human educator). Sound: “Space Chimes Dust” by gamebalance (freesound.org). No analytics · no accounts · your data stays in this browser.