Plan consent and privacy for any real user data

If your project collects data from people, such as patients, students, customers or survey respondents, the proposal should say how you will handle it. The ACM Code of Ethics asks computing professionals to respect privacy and to avoid harm, and those principles apply to student projects too.

Cover at least:

• Consent: how participants agree to take part, and that they can withdraw.
• Minimum data: collect only what the project needs; avoid national ID numbers, exact addresses or health details unless essential.
• Storage: where the data lives, who can access it and when it will be deleted.
• Approval: whether your university needs an ethics or research committee approval for studies with people, and when you will apply.

Using public datasets? Check their licence and whether they allow your use. Scraping websites? Check the site's terms first.