Walking home one afternoon through the streets of São José do Alegre, a quiet rural town in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, João heard a notification ping and pulled out his phone.
He read the WhatsApp message with growing curiosity: the government was giving out new benefits. All he had to do was click on a link and fill out a form. But he would have to be quick, the message warned, since only the first 50 applications would be accepted.
João hurried home to ask his 11-year-old son, Mateus, for help filling out the form. Taking the phone from his father, the boy frowned. The message looked strange. Its link ended in “.co” rather than “.gov.br” and it pressured recipients to act fast. Just a week earlier, he’d learned in his CodificaKids workshop that these were signs of a scam.
“Hold on, Papai,” he said quickly. “This doesn’t look real.” Later, they showed the message to the workshop teacher, who confirmed it was a phishing attempt designed, most likely, to steal João’s WhatsApp account.
This moment marked a turning point, not only for João and Mateus, but for an entire community that, thanks to this training led by the Internet Society Brazil Chapter, was now better equipped to stay safe on the Internet.
In São José do Alegre, home to just 4,000 residents, the Internet had already been part of daily life for years. Most were using it to stay in touch with family and friends or share photos on social media, yet few truly understood how it works.
Since many were unable to spot fake links or scams, misinformation spread easily, and some residents felt excluded from a digital world they didn’t fully trust.
In late 2024, the Internet Society Brazil Chapter partnered with Instituto Aaron Swartz to launch CodificaKids, a hands-on digital safety workshop for young people, to bring São José do Alegre the knowledge necessary for using the Internet without compromising privacy or safety.
CodificaKids received funding from the Internet Society Foundation’s Beyond the Net Grant Program and ran a pilot with 157 students between the ages of 8 and 18 across three public schools, nearly a quarter of the town’s total student population.
“People here used technology, but they didn’t always feel safe doing so,” said Lucas Lago, vice-president of Instituto Aaron Swartz and coordinator of the project. “We wanted to change that by laying the groundwork for trust: teaching Internet users how to protect information, recognize risks, and think critically.”
The approach was refreshingly simple. Rather than seating participants in front of screens and making them learn jargon, the coordinators taught them through play.
Over the workshop’s 10 hours, the children used physical boxes, locks, and keys to see for themselves how data travels across a network. They began by sending “unlocked” message boxes around the classroom, watching how easily information can be intercepted. Then, adding padlocks and exchanging keys, they saw how encryption keeps messages private.
These fun, hands-on games turned complex concepts into tangible experiences. “We wanted them to understand that security isn’t about fear,” Lucas said. “It’s about building trust.” By the time the sessions ended, the children had a solid understanding of encryption and privacy, topics that often confuse adults.
Stories like Mateus’s quick thinking at home demonstrate the program’s success. Similar moments followed: children reminding parents not to share passwords, families verifying links before clicking, and teachers discussing online privacy in staff meetings.
The kids took their lessons beyond the classroom. They became digital guardians in their own homes.”
When CodificaKids graduates shared what they’d learned at the town’s annual Rural Producers’ Meeting and during Safer Internet Day, adults paid attention. Parents joined their children in trying the lock-and-key exercises.
“For many, it was their first time seeing how the Internet really works,” said a teacher at a participating school. “You could see the pride in the kids’ faces as they taught their parents.”
As the project’s influence spread, the local government took notice. Inspired by its success, São José do Alegre established an annual Digital Protection Week for Kids to be coordinated by Instituto Aaron Swartz. The event will ensure that conversations about safety and trust online continue long after the pilot ends.
The students themselves became eloquent advocates for a safer Internet. Twelve-year-old Michael summed it up neatly: “This network is based on trust. That means if one person isn’t trustworthy, I can’t trust this network anymore.”
Program coordinators were pleased to see how readily the children understood the principles of privacy and rights and even anticipated their broader implications. One eight-year-old girl, for example, asked: “But what if the police want to read a message?”
“These reactions show that when children understand the Internet, they also start to think more critically about it,” said Lucas. “That’s the foundation of trust, when people know enough to ask the right questions.”
In just a few months, CodificaKids transformed the way one rural town thinks about the Internet. It bridged generations, equipped families to recognize digital threats, and showed that technology can be an ally rather than a threat.
Trust online begins with understanding.”
Encouraged by these results, the Brazil Chapter plans to expand CodificaKids to neighboring towns and develop a toolkit enabling teachers across Brazil to replicate the approach on their own. Universities have also expressed interest in adapting the model for older students.
For João and Mateus, the lessons have already changed daily life. “Before, I never thought about who might see my messages,” João admitted. “Now, I think twice before clicking on a link.”
That’s the ripple effect the Internet Society and the Internet Society Foundation hope to inspire, one workshop at a time, to turn curiosity into confidence and build a more trustworthy Internet for everyone.
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