Privacy by Design: The 7 Foundational Principles

This useful sheet outlines The 7 Foundational Principles of Privacy by Design - a concept that Commissioner Cavoukian developed 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. Privacy by Design asserts that the future of privacy cannot be assured solely by compliance with regulatory frameworks; rather, privacy assurance must ideally become an organization’s default mode of operation. Privacy by Design now extends to a “Trilogy” of encompassing applications: 1) IT systems; 2) accountable business practices; and 3) physical design and infrastructure.

(Revised January 2011)