25 leaders, 25 moments at 25 years: Ann Cavoukian

Privacy by design is a ubiquitous term among privacy professionals and a foundational principle for privacy and data protection law. Ann Cavoukian, a leading privacy expert and strong voice in the privacy community, coined the term and promoted the concept within the privacy community and among policymakers.

In 1997, she was appointed as the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, Canada, where she served three terms. Prior to assuming office, she published the groundbreaking paper "Privacy by Design," which laid out a framework that places privacy at the forefront of design specifications and encourages the strongest possible protections for consumers.

Cavoukian's privacy-by-design concept has been recognized as an essential framework. In 2010, the International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners unanimously passed a resolution instating privacy by design as an international standard. In 2012, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission included privacy by design as one of three recommended practices to ensure online privacy. It was later codified in the EU General Data Protection Regulation and many subsequent national privacy and data protection laws.

In 2005, Cavoukian was awarded the Privacy Innovation Award by the IAPP for her and the IPC's work on developing short privacy notices. In 2007, Cavoukian was listed as one of Canada's most powerful women by the Women's Executive Network when she received the Top 100 Award in the Trailblazers and Trendsetters category. She also received the 2011 Kristian Beckman Award and the SC Canada Privacy Professional of the Year Award and was named one of the Top 11 Movers and Shakers by Intelligent Utility Magazine[MF1] .

"Ann Cavoukian's pioneering work on privacy by design has, without question, reshaped how organizations should approach data protection," said IAPP Managing Director, Canada, Kris Klein CIPP/C, CIPM, FIP. "By embedding privacy into the very framework of system design, she set a global standard that prioritizes user trust and data security from the outset."

"As a regulator, Ann Cavoukian was all-in and full of energy," Klein said. "There was an incident where health records were sent for destruction but mistakenly ended up scattered on a Toronto street during a film shoot. She actually went to the scene of the breach and personally scooped up as many health records as possible. That kind of hands-on approach showed her commitment to protecting people's privacy."

Today, she is the executive director of the Global Privacy and Security by Design Centre, where she continues to advise companies and governments on innovative systems and privacy-enhancing technology to protect personal privacy and security. Her work remains highly influential, as privacy by design principles still guide the development of consumer-facing products.