tietosuojabydesign

Privacy by design, sometimes referred to in Finnish contexts as tietosuoja by design or tietosuojaby design, is a design philosophy and engineering approach that seeks to embed privacy into the development and operation of information systems from the outset. The concept emphasizes proactive protection, rather than reactive measures, and argues that privacy should be the default setting for products, services, and processes. It has its origins in the work of privacy advocate Ann Cavoukian and has since been incorporated into European data protection thinking, including the GDPR principle of data protection by design and by default (Article 25).

Core ideas of privacy by design include embedding privacy into the entire system lifecycle, applying data minimization and purpose limitation, ensuring strong data security, and enhancing transparency and user control. The approach promotes ongoing accountability, regular assessment of risks, and the ability to demonstrate compliance through documentation and auditing. designers and organizations are encouraged to consider privacy implications during initial requirement gathering, architectural design, implementation, testing, deployment, and maintenance.

In practice, privacy by design relies on technical and organizational measures such as data minimization, pseudonymization or anonymization, encryption, access controls, secure defaults, data retention limits, and ongoing privacy impact assessments (DPIAs) for high-risk processing. It is widely referenced in EU law, standards, and frameworks, including GDPR Article 25, ISO/IEC 27701, and the NIST privacy framework, and is applied across software development, AI, IoT, and data analytics to balance innovation with individual privacy rights. Limitations include the need for early involvement, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and ongoing governance to remain effective over time.