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

Ever since the WhatsApp Privacy Policy fiasco happened on Jan '21', privacy by design came into talks as an integral part of all medium to large scale companies. Here are the seven foundational principles:

1. Proactive not Reactive; Preventative not Remedial: Anticipate, Identify and Rectify before invasive events happen. This approach anticipates and prevents privacy breaches before they happen.
2. Privacy as a Default Setting: Every user is subject to automatic protection of privacy. It ensures that personal data is automatically protected in any system or business practice.
3. Privacy Embedded into Design: It should be fully integrated components of the system and not an add-on feature. Making user-experiences worse for the sake of privacy is not an option. Privacy must be integrated in a holistic and creative way.
4. Full Functionality — Positive-Sum, not Zero-Sum: It employs a “win-win” approach to all legitimate system design goals; that is, both privacy and security are important with no trade-offs. Trade-offs shouldn’t be made to accommodate either privacy or functionality.
5. Ensure end-to-end security: Data lifecycle security means all data should be securely retained as needed and destroyed when no longer needed. This means that information is secure and protected when it enters the system, is retained safely, and then properly destroyed.
6. Transparency: Business practices and technologies are operating according to stated terms and policies. Being clear about your system, and the level of security it provides, creates trust and holds your organization accountable.
7. Respect for User Privacy — Keep it User-Centric i.e. Individual privacy interests must be supported by strong privacy defaults, appropriate notice, and user-friendly options. The user privacy your number one concern.

Why PbD Matters More Than Ever?

There has been a tectonic change in terms of the user becoming aware of personal data and its privacy. New rules like General Data Protection Regulation(GDPR) have been taking turns around and so people are making an effort to realize the importance of privacy over ease of use. Hence, it has become important to engrave the same in the development process and no longer consider it as a voluntary activity.