Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs)
The ICO describes PETs as:
Privacy-enhancing technologies or PETs are technologies that embody fundamental data protection principles by minimising personal data use, maximising data security, and empowering individuals. A useful definition from the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) refers to PETs as:
‘software and hardware solutions, ie systems encompassing technical processes, methods or knowledge to achieve specific privacy or data protection functionality or to protect against risks of privacy of an individual or a group of natural persons.’
PETs link closely to the concept of privacy by design, and therefore apply to the technical measures you can put in place. They can assist you in complying with the data protection principles and are a means of implementing data protection by design within your organisation on a technical level.
The technologies or solutions that we list here are those that are in our opinion relevant to meeting the LOCS:23 standard and have the potential to enhance privacy. We do not grade, recommend or approve technologies or solutions and it is for organisations to assess the capability and appropriateness of all available technologies or solutions for themselves.
