Module 79: Privacy and Data Protection
Privacy by design
🏠The everyday picture
A bank designs its branch so customers' conversations at the counter can't be overheard. It's part of the building plan, not a screen added after complaints.
📘What it really is
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Privacy by design means building privacy into features from the start, and privacy by default means the most protective settings are on without the user doing anything.
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In practice:
- ask privacy questions in design (Module 78): what personal data does this feature need? Who sees it? How long is it kept? Could it be done with less?
- defaults: marketing off until chosen; profiles private; minimal fields required;
- access and audit: only roles that need it see personal data; reading restricted data is logged;
- security: encryption, least privilege and secure development (Modules 74 to 78) protect personal data;
- people's rights built in: the ability to see, correct, export and delete a person's data, built as features rather than handled by hand;
- third parties: know which services receive personal data (email, SMS, analytics, error reporting, AI APIs), check their terms and data location, and send only what's needed;
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transparency: clear notices, and telling people when something changes.
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A privacy impact assessment (or data protection impact assessment) is a structured review for features that handle sensitive data or large volumes: the data, risks to people, and the safeguards.
🖱️Try it
Pick one CRM feature (for example, customer notes or exports) and run a short privacy-by-design review: data used, who sees it, retention, third parties involved, risks to the customer, and improvements. Build a "customer data" admin function that gathers everything held about one customer, for access and deletion requests.
✅Quick check
What does privacy by default mean?
Show the answer
The most privacy-protective settings apply automatically, without the user having to change anything.
Why list the third-party services that receive personal data?
Show the answer
They're part of where personal data goes, so they must be trusted, needed and covered in your notice.