Have fun and help raise awareness about how the Internet really works — and possibly earn a trip to DC and $5000 if you’re really good at it!

The Berkman Center, StopBadware, Google, Medium, and EDVentures present Cookie Crumbles. It’s a fun contest for people who like to make short, humorous (yet meaningful) videos and posting them to YouTube (there’s a Cookie Crumbles group set up for contest purposes). We are looking for short YouTube videos that address these questions as accurately and as creatively as possible:

Most people know cookies as a treat best enjoyed with milk. When it comes to web cookies, however, many users want to know more:

* What is a cookie?
* How do cookies work?
* How can cookies be used?
* How is the data from cookies used with data collected in other ways, including from third parties?
* How can cookies be misused?
* What options does a user have to manage cookies and their use?

The top few submissions, as determined by a combination of YouTube viewers and Berkman Center staff, will earn their creators a trip to Washington, D.C., where their videos will be aired and discussed at the United States Federal Trade Commission’s November 1-2 Town Hall workshop entitled “Ehavioral Advertising: Tracking, Targeting, and Technology.” Several prizes will be awarded by a panel of judges and discussants including Jeff Chester, Esther Dyson (who blogged the contest here and here), and others, moderated by the Berkman Center, and including one grand prize of $5,000. Submission guidelines and more can be found here.