Glossary term
Privacy by Design and by Default
Subject: Technology, Cyber and Data, Data Protection and Privacy
Also known as: Data protection by design and by default, Privacy by default
Privacy by design means building data protection into products, systems and processes from the start. Privacy by default means the most protective settings apply automatically, without the user having to choose them.
Explanation
The design half asks teams to think about privacy during planning rather than bolt it on before launch. Typical measures are collecting less data, pseudonymising early, limiting who can see records, and building deletion into the system. The default half covers settings: only the data needed for each purpose is processed, and profiles are not made public unless the user opts in. The idea began with Ann Cavoukian's principles in the 1990s and became a legal duty in Article 25 of the GDPR. Impact assessments are a common tool for putting it into practice. Product, engineering and legal teams share the work. Regulators judge it by the final product, not the intentions. Retrofitting privacy after launch usually means rebuilding features and migrating live data.
Example
A fintech team designs a savings app. From the first sketch, the privacy lead asks which data each screen needs. The team drops a request for contact-list access, keeps names out of analytics logs, and sets new accounts to hide spending history from other users until the customer chooses to share it.
Not to be confused with
- Security by Design
- Builds protection against attack into systems. Privacy by design builds limits on data use into systems, which security alone does not supply.