How Privacy Enhancing Technologies can advance responsible data sharing

Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs) are transforming how organizations can handle sensitive data. Access to sensitive (micro) data is often highly restricted through special legal agreements and in closed environments. Responsible data sharing is about finding the optimal balance between maximizing the societal value of data and the need to protect privacy. PETs offer powerful new ways to manage this trade-off, enabling organizations to make better use of their data, without compromising on data privacy or confidentiality. In the broader context of the United Nations, PETs can help in achieving some of the commitments of the Global Digital Compact regarding the aspect of data privacy and security. If in the foreseeable future access to data is safely controlled through PETs, then researchers, data analysts or general data users will be able to obtain their analytical results without a need for direct access to the individual records of any data set. This would be a very tangible contribution of the PET community towards responsible data sharing.