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Privacy

Ensuring that people can decide if and how their personal information is collected, used, stored, and shared by digital products, platforms, services, and infrastructure

For dotPublic, Privacy means safeguarding the rights of every person to decide who knows what about them, and to be left alone by those who have no business with them.

For a public-serving entity, respecting a person's privacy means taking no information about them without their explicit consent, taking only what is needed to do the work or deliver the service, holding any information they take securely and in confidence, and never passing it on to anyone unless the person has explicitly agreed. It means not tracking the actions or behaviours of visitors to its services, and obtaining valid and active consent for any action it takes using a person’s data, including any communications with them.

Example requirements (illustrative)

These example requirements are grounded in established international standards, regulations, and laws, which are listed in full in the section below.

  • Systems are designed according to principles of data minimisation, privacy by default, and resistance to unnecessary monitoring or profiling.

  • Privacy and human-rights impact assessments are conducted and published before deployment of significant new systems involving personal data, AI, or behavioural monitoring.

  • Personal data collected only where necessary for delivery of the stated public service or function.

  • No non-essential cookies, trackers, or behavioural advertising technologies activated before explicit consent.

  • Organisations publish a clear, human-readable explanation of what personal data is collected, why it is collected, how long it is retained, and who it is shared with.

  • People can access, correct, export, and request deletion of their personal data through clear and accessible processes.

Standards, regulations, and laws informing this work

Organisations working in this area

Related standards: Responsibility to the Future Interoperability