Privacy by Design

Privacy by Design means building privacy into the design, operation, and management of a given system, business process, or design specification.

The idea is that data protection in data processing procedures is best adhered to when it is integrated into the technology. There is, however, still uncertainty about what “Privacy by Design” means, and how one can implement it. So let's explore this a little further.

The concept of Privacy by design is based on seven "foundational principles":

  1. Proactive not reactive; preventive, not remedial The ComUnity platform will anticipate and take care of any privacy issues before they occur and not after.

  2. Privacy as the default setting The user will not need to do anything to protect their data, it's protected by default.

  3. Privacy embedded into the design Privacy is a core feature, it is not an add-in nor is it a detriment to functionality.

  4. Full functionality – positive-sum, not zero-sum The best privacy measures should not lead to sub-standard functionality.

  5. End-to-end security – full lifecycle protection The privacy design should protect the user's privacy from beginning to end.

  6. Visibility and transparency – keep it open All privacy policies and their implementation should be open, transparent and verifiable.

  7. Respect for user privacy – keep it user-centric Privacy should be user-friendly so that all users can manage their own data.

We hope you found this short guide a useful introduction to designing for privacy, and highly recommend that you read more in the sources below.

The principles have been cited in over five hundred articles referring to the Privacy by Design in Law, Policy and Practice white paper by Ann Cavoukian.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy_by_design

In practice, this consideration is already performed in an early development phase when setting technology decisions. Recognised certification can serve as an indicator to authorities that the persons responsible have complied with the statutory requirements of “Privacy by Design”.

Sources and further reading: