Privacy

Privacy describes principles and measures to protect personal data and preserve confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Concepts such as data minimization, purpose limitation, pseudonymization, and Privacy by Design guide technical and organizational decisions. It affects system architecture, processes, compliance, and user interactions.

Use this profile to understand the building block briefly, place it in the model, and switch to the 360° assessment when needed.

Content type

Concept

Theoretical construct: explains a term, principle, or mental model.

Classification level

Structure

What organizes, connects, or makes decisions possible.

Available perspectives

Open this building block directly in an already curated view.

360°

In brief

Privacy in brief

Privacy is people's control over what information about them is collected, used, shared, and retained.

Where does it come from?

The concept rests on ideas of private life, confidentiality, and informational self-determination. Laws such as the GDPR make these interests concrete through rights, duties, purpose limitation, and accountability.

The mental model

For every data flow ask: who is affected, what purpose justifies processing, who can access it, and when does it end? Privacy concerns expectations and power around information; technical security protects it but is not the same thing.

Key building blocks

Personal data

Information relating to an identified or identifiable person.

Purpose limitation

Data is collected and used for specified, explicit, and legitimate purposes.

Data subject right

A person's right to request actions such as access, correction, or erasure.

When is it useful?

Privacy makes data processing assessable from the perspective of affected people. It underpins trustworthy products and lawful processes and requires transparency, proportionality, and meaningful choices.

EUR-Lex – General Data Protection Regulation EDPB – Data protection basics