Privacy by Design (PbD) is a design framework under VSD (Values Sensitive Design). Privacy by design is an approach to systems engineering initially developed by Ann Cavoukian and formalized in a joint report on privacy-enhancing technologies by a joint team of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (Canada), the Dutch Data Protection Authority and the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research in 1995. This is a framework largely based on proactively embedding privacy into the design and operation of products and services both non-IT and IT systems, networked infrastructure, and business practices. PbD calls for privacy to be considered throughout the whole engineering process. Privacy by design is based on seven "foundational principles".

• Proactive not reactive; preventative not remedial
• Privacy as the default setting
• Privacy embedded into design
• Full functionality – positive-sum, not zero-sum
• End-to-end security – full lifecycle protection
• Visibility and transparency – keep it open
• Privacy by Design goes well beyond accepted fair information practices and privacy standards, virtually assuring regulatory compliance—no matter where you operate.