Online services that store our personal information have proliferated, yet the technology to underpin how our privacy is safeguarded has lagged behind. This was the conclusion of a 2008 report by the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office, a body set up to uphold privacy for individuals, which pressed for “the evolution of a new approach to the management of personal information that ingrains privacy principles into every part of every system in every organisation.”
This ethos underpins research led by Professor Jon Crowcroft, the Marconi Professor of Communications Systems in Cambridge University's Computer Laboratory. Two projects he leads aim to minimise privacy risks, and at the heart of both is the concept of ‘privacy by design’.
“Privacy by design means that it’s in-built as part of the technology, rather than bolted on in order to comply with data protection laws,” he explained. “With privacy by design, it would simply not be possible for incidents such as the leaking of LinkedIn passwords to happen.”
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Image: Online privacy
©iStockPhoto.com/Marilyn Nieves
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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