Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs) are crucial for safeguarding individual privacy while enabling socially beneficial research, data sharing, and advancements in sectors that collect or use sensitive data. As AI systems increasingly rely on vast amounts of data, PETs like differential privacy, homomorphic encryption, federated learning, zero-knowledge proofs, and even model contract clauses can help ensure that personal data remains confidential and secure. This is vital not only for protecting individual rights but also for earning and maintaining public trust in technologies that use data about people.
Ethically implementing PETs is also essential. PETs must be designed and deployed to protect marginalized groups and avoid practices that may appear to be privacy-preserving, but actually exploit sensitive data or undermine privacy. In addition, clear policy guidelines on the deployment of PETs are necessary to help make sound business cases for their use in industry. If PETs are ethically integrated into research and business practices, and if global regulators have an opportunity to support their appropriate deployment, there is enormous potential for increasing technological innovation and societal benefits while upholding privacy and public trust.
FPF supports the development of PETs, convenes experts from around the world to deploy best practices, and provides in-depth analysis of emerging technologies and their policy implications. FPF also leads the National Science Foundation and Department of Energy-funded Research Coordination Network for the use of PETs to advance socially beneficial data sharing and protect people’s privacy as data is increasingly used to train AI models. FPF also facilitates a Global PETs Network of regulators who are interested in the lawful and ethical implementation of these tools.
FPF’s Year in Review 2024
With contributions from Judy Wang, Communications Intern 2024 was a landmark year for the Future of Privacy Forum, as we continued to grow our privacy leadership through research and analysis, domestic and global meetings, expert testimony, and more – all while commemorating our 15th anniversary. Expanding our AI Footprint While 2023 was the year of […]
FPF Launches New Privacy-Enhancing Technologies Repository
For some time now, stakeholders at the intersection of data, privacy, and new technologies have increasingly recognized the potential of a range of technical and computational approaches and techniques to mitigate privacy risks. This set of tools and methods are otherwise known as privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) and are understood as a group of techniques that […]
CPDP LatAm 2024: What is Top of Mind in Latin American Data Protection and Privacy? From data sovereignty, to PETs
On July 17-18, the fourth edition of the Computers, Privacy, and Data Protection Conference Latin America (CPDP LatAm) was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This year’s theme was on “Data Governance: From Latin America to the G20,” highlighting Brazil’s current presidency of the international cooperation forum. As in previous years, FPF participated on the […]
Connecting Experts to Make Privacy-Enhancing Tech and AI Work for Everyone
The Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) launched its Research Coordination Network (RCN) for Privacy-Preserving Data Sharing and Analytics on Tuesday, July 9th. Industry experts, policymakers, civil society, and academics met to discuss the possibilities afforded by Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs), the inherent regulatory challenges, and how PETs interact with rapidly developing AI systems. FPF experts […]
NEW FPF REPORT: Confidential Computing and Privacy: Policy Implications of Trusted Execution Environments
Written by Judy Wang, FPF Communications Intern Today, the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) published a paper on confidential computing, a privacy-enhancing technology (PET) that marks a significant shift in the trustworthiness and verifiability of data processing for the use cases it supports, including training and use of AI models. Confidential computing leverages two key […]
FPF Launches Effort to Advance Privacy-Enhancing Technologies, Convenes Experts, and Meets With White House
FPF’s Research Coordination Network will support developing and deploying Privacy-Enhancing Technologies (PETs) for socially beneficial data sharing and analytics. JULY 9, 2024 — Today, the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) is launching the Privacy-Enhancing Technologies (PETs) Research Coordination Network (RCN) with a virtual convening of diverse experts alongside a high-level, in-person workshop with key stakeholders […]
FPF Awarded DOE and NSF Grants to Advance Privacy Enhancing Technologies & AI
The Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) has been awarded grants by the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support FPF’s establishment of a Research Coordination Network (RCN) for Privacy-Preserving Data and Analytics. FPF’s work will support the development and deployment of Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs) for beneficial data sharing and […]
Navigating Privacy-Enhancing Technologies: Key Takeaways from the Inaugural Meeting of the Global PETs Network
In recent years, privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) have been an increasingly popular subject on regulators’ and policymakers’ agendas. Whether by issuing guidance about these types of tools (Canada’s Office of the Privacy Commissioner; United Kingdom’s Information Commissioner’s Office; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), setting up regulatory sandboxes (Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Commission; Colombia’s Superintendence of […]
Event Report: FPF Side Event and Workshop on Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs) at the 2022 Global Privacy Assembly (GPA)
The 2022 Global Privacy Assembly (GPA) – which brings together most global data protection authorities (DPAs) every year since 1979, to share knowledge and establish common priorities among regulators – took place between October 25 and 28, in Istanbul (Türkiye). The Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) was invited by the organizers of the GPA (the […]