Privacy by Design (PbD) is a concept that was developed by Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner, Dr. Ann Cavoukian, in the ’90s. It prescribes that privacy be embedded directly into the design and operation, not only of various technologies, but also of business processes and networked infrastructure. Instead of treating privacy as an after-thought – “bolting it on after the fact” – PbD is proactive and preventative in nature.Through years of advocacy and encouragement, PbD is now being widely adopted globally by a growing number of organizations and jurisdictions. This paper outlines the foundations of PbD, and traces its evolution from a conceptual framework into a practical one that has been recognized internationally as the gold standard in privacy and data protection.