Privacy-Enhancing Technologies

Privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) are computer and information systems that protect the privacy of individuals by limiting the amount of information that can be collected, used, or disclosed by both public and private sector organizations. PETs include technologies such as encryption, anonymization, or identity management systems that help protect sensitive data.

Privacy-enhancing technologies can have several benefits for individuals, organizations and society in general:

• Protecting privacy: by limiting what information is collected about an individual
• Limiting data mining: by restricting access to data collected about individuals
• Limiting profiling: by restricting access to databases containing personal information