[Image: Ann Cavoukian, Ph.D.]

Ann Cavoukian, Ph.D.

Information & Privacy Commissioner

Ontario, Canada

What people are saying

  • The end structure of the new systems was very strongly informed by the PbD

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  • Robert Cook: Chief Information Officer, University of Toronto

  • As a PbD Ambassador, I’m a fervent supporter of its Principles and

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  • Claudiu Popa: Founder and Principal Risk Advisor, Informatica Corporation

  • Congratulations to you (on the PbD Resolution)! You are such a tremendous

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  • Dr. Ilse Treurnicht: CEO of the MaRS Discovery District

  • I want to congratulate you on the incredible achievement of what I would call

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  • Terry McQuay: President, Nymity Inc.

  • Privacy By Design is a set of seven high-level concepts, created by

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  • Intel views Privacy by Design as a necessary component of our accountability

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  • David A. Hoffman: Director of Security Policy and Global Privacy Officer, Intel Corporation.

  • A long-time advocate of privacy technologies, Ann coined the term Privacy by

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  • Dr. Stefan Brands: Principal Architect, Identity & Security Division, Microsoft Corporation.

  • Ann Cavoukian is a rare breed — a government official working with privacy

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  • Jared Kaprove:  

  • “This is amazing. Every time I see something like this, it makes me sad that

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  • Christopher Soghoian: Berkman Centre for Internet & Society, Harvard University

  • PbD is the first set of concrete privacy best practices I have seen

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  • Claudiu Popa: President, Informatica
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History

Privacy by Design is a concept that was developed by Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner, Dr. Ann Cavoukian, back in the 90’s, to address the ever-growing and systemic effects of Information and Communication Technologies, and of large–scale networked data systems.

At the time, the notion of embedding privacy into the design of technology was far less popular – taking a strong regulatory stance was the preferred course of action. Since then, things have changed considerably and the Privacy by Design approach is now enjoying widespread popularity.

Privacy by Design advances the view that the future of privacy cannot be assured solely by compliance with legislation and regulatory frameworks; rather, privacy assurance must ideally become an organization’s default mode of operation.

Initially, deploying Privacy–Enhancing Technologies (PETs) was seen as the solution. Today, we understand that a more substantial approach is required – extending the use of PETs to taking a positive–sum, not a zero-sum, approach.

More: The Origins of Privacy by Design