Digital privacy, today is regarded as the right and the ability of persons to interact digitally while in control over information dissemination and informed about who is participating in the interaction, what information about the person is exchanged, what the information is being used for.

Digital privacy can be seen as two concepts side-by-side – the right to be left alone, not get observed while on-line; and the concept of fair-play and lawfulness expressed in data protection philosophy and regulation.

Recent regulation like the EU's GDPR show signs of matching both concepts by including person-centric mandatory risk and impact analysis into regulation of personal data processing.

Please proceed to the following sections that will explore the origins and the context of the concepts of information privacy and data protection!

You will first read about the development of the concept of privacy as an individual's right.
Then you will learn about the development of data protection regulation that governs the use of personal data in today's information systems.
Next, we will have a look at the stakeholders involved in information privacy.
Finally, you will learn the background of information privacy and for privacy enhancing technology.

This is an important section, since it lays the foundation for your understanding of the thinking that is put into technical privacy.