Privacy by design: the definitive workshop. A foreword by Ann Cavoukian, Ph.D

Abstract

In November, 2009, a prominent group of privacy professionals, business leaders, information technology specialists, and academics gathered in Madrid to discuss how the next set of threats to privacy could best be addressed. The event, Privacy by Design: The Definitive Workshop, was co-hosted by my office and that of the Israeli Law, Information and Technology Authority. It marked the latest step in a journey that I began in the 1990’s, when I first focused on enlisting the support of technologies that could enhance privacy. Back then, privacy protection relied primarily upon legislation and regulatory frameworks—in an effort to offer remedies for data breaches, after they had occurred. As information technology became increasingly interconnected and the volume of personal information collected began to explode, it became clear that a new way of thinking about privacy was needed. Privacy-Enhancing Technologies (PETs) paved the way for that new direction, highlighting how the universal principles of fair information practices could be reflected in information and communication technologies to achieve strong privacy protection. While the idea seemed radical at the time, it has been very gratifying over the past 15 years to see it come into widespread usage as part of the vocabulary of both privacy and information technology professionals. But the privacy landscape continues to evolve. So, like the technologies that shape and reshape the world in which we live, the privacy conversation must IDIS (2010) 3:247–251 DOI 10.1007/s12394-010-0062-y