Most of us enjoyed reading books growing up. If you liked reading about sports, you were likely to find a weekly newsletter in your school library. Now, imagine if you went to a library and asked the librarian where the latest issue is. The librarian points to a corner where you would find it. You thanked the librarian and went on your way. A few minutes later, you hear the librarian talking on the phone to her colleague, and you overhear her tell her friend about your reading habits and share a laugh over it. You’re right there. You’re confused. Next thing, everyone in school jokes about your passionate interest in women’s tennis, and you’re embarrassed for no particular reason. You wish there was more privacy.

Now, in the real world, this is unlikely to happen to you in a library. People seem to mind their own business. But in the virtual world of the internet, there is always someone spying on you. And websites don’t always seem to protect your privacy either. If you’re a brand, this is so much more important to understand. Your website is the point of contact between you, and your consumers. This is the one place where trust is paramount. So when we talk about Privacy by Design, what do we really mean?

In the words of Dr Ann Cavoukan,

“Privacy knows no borders: we have to protect privacy globally or we protect it nowhere!”

Dr Ann Cavoukan is the industry thought leader when it comes to privacy by design. In the 1990s, she pioneered this framework by creating seven principles that help incorporate privacy into the design. These are:

Proactive, not reactive. Preventive, not remedial.

It is always better to avoid a mishap than to apologize for it. This principle implies that the privacy policy of your website should always look to stay updated and be early to adapt changes, rather than avoid being too late to the trend.