Digital Privacy: Trends, Challenges, and the Future

Digital privacy is a complex and multifaceted concept that affects IT professionals in various ways. This article reflects the ongoing discussion and work of the IEEE Digital Privacy Initiative within the IEEE Future Directions. In this article, we highlight the need to represent the individual’s expectations of privacy one should be permitted to have, which must be accounted for in the digital world. Next, we present a digital privacy concept map, demonstrating the complexity of implementing effective privacy protections covering many branches and components. Finally, we reference a digital privacy model that reframes the privacy discussion to drive solutions that start with the individuals and their expectations. The combined discussion can help IT professionals to better understand and deal with the challenges and opportunities of digital privacy.