Data Privacy Acronym List

Biometric Information Privacy Act

State privacy law in Illinois governing how businesses can handle users’ biometric information, effective since 2008.

California Consumer Privacy Act

State privacy law in California, effective since 2020 and to be followed by the CPRA in 2023.

Consumer Data Protection Act

State privacy law in Virginia, going into effect in 2023.

Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act

Federal rule in the United States that regulates how online services can handle the personal information of children under 13 years of age.

California Privacy Rights Act

Upcoming state privacy law in California to replace the CCPA in 2023.

Data Protection Act

Federal privacy act in the United Kingdom, effective since 2018.

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

Federal law in the US, effective since 1978, that establishes processes for surveillance of communications, a provision that has been an ongoing point of contention in international data-transfer negotiations, especially between the US and the EU.

General Data Protection Regulation

Privacy law for the European Union, effective since 2018.

Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act

Federal statute in the United States that, among other measures, requires financial organizations to disclose their data safeguards to their users; effective since 1999.

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

Federal medical privacy law in the United States governing protections for patients’ health information.

Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados Pessoais (Portuguese for General Personal Data Protection Law)

Data privacy law in Brazil, effective since 2020 with sanctions for violations starting in 2021.

Nevada Privacy of Information Collected on the Internet from Consumers Act

State privacy law in Nevada for websites’ privacy policies, effective in its amended form since 2019.

Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act

Federal privacy law in Canada, effective since 2000.

Personal Information Protection Act

Federal data protection law in Japan, effective since 2005, sometimes referred to as the Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL). See also: China’s draft Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL) in the Pending Legislation section.

Protection of Personal Information Act

Federal privacy act in South Africa, effective since 2020.

Digital Markets Act

Proposed EU legislation that aims to address unfair business practices among large providers of digital services, including through regulation of end-user profiling, presented in 2020.

ePrivacy Regulation

Proposed EU regulation with specific privacy guidelines for electronic communications, presented in 2017.

Personal Data Protection Bill

Federal privacy bill in India, presented in 2019.

Personal Information Protection Law

Federal privacy bill in China, presented in 2020. See also: Japan’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA), sometimes referred to as the Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL), in the Laws section.

Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (Spanish for Spanish Data Protection Agency)

Spanish agency responsible for upholding data privacy law in the country.

Autoridade Nacional de Proteção de Dados (Portuguese for National Data Protection Authority)

Brazilian agency responsible for upholding data privacy law in the country.

Children’s Advertising Review Unit

US agency responsible for regulating advertising as it relates to children under the age of 12.

Certification des compétences du DPO

Individual certified by the International Association of Privacy Professionals to practice privacy in accordance with France’s CNIL agency

Certified Information Privacy Manager

Title for an individual certified by the International Association of Privacy Professionals to build privacy into operations, e.g., audits and risk management.

Certified Information Privacy Professional

Title for an individual certified by the International Association of Privacy Professionals to practice privacy in legal and compliance settings.

Certified Information Privacy Technologist

Title for an individual certified by the International Association of Privacy Professionals to build privacy into engineering and IT functions..

Court of Justice of the European Union

Judicial body charged with interpreting and applying EU law in EU member countries.

Commission National de l’Informatique et des Libertés (French for National Commission on Informatics and Liberty)

French agency responsible for upholding data privacy law in the country.

Commission Nationale pour la Protection des Données (French for National Data Protection Commission)

Luxembourgish agency responsible for upholding data privacy law in the country.

California Privacy Protection Agency

Agency responsible for implementing and enforcing the CPRA in California, beginning in 2023.

Data Protection Authority

Independent authority in an EU member country that oversees the application of GDPR and relevant country-specific laws; a legacy term for ISA.

Data Protection Commission

Ireland’s agency for upholding privacy law in the country, notably including Facebook’s EU base in Dublin.

Data Protection Officer

Point-person for a company’s privacy compliance and training under GDPR.

European Data Protection Board

Independent organization for implementing data protection regulations in the EU, working in concert with DPAs and the EDPS.

European Data Protection Supervisor

Independent authority in the EU charged with overseeing how EU entities process personal data.

Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner

Switzerland’s data protection authority.

Federal Trade Commission

US federal agency responsible for enforcing regulations pertaining to consumer protection and market competition.

International Association of Privacy Professionals

Organization that conducts research, creates resources, and provides professional development among privacy professionals; body that grants certifications like CIPM, CIPP, and CIPT.

Information Commissioner’s Office

United Kingdom’s agency for upholding privacy law in the country.

Independent Supervisory Authority

Independent authority in an EU member country that oversees the application of GDPR and relevant country-specific laws; GDPR’s updated term for DSA.

National Institute of Standards and Technology

US federal agency that sets guidelines for innovation across technical fields and establishes frameworks for cybersecurity and privacy.

Office of the Privacy Commissioner

New Zealand’s agency for upholding privacy law in the country.

Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data

Hong Kong agency responsible for upholding data privacy law in the country.

Personal Information Protection Commission

South Korean agency responsible for upholding data privacy law in the country.

Privacy Protection Agency

Enforcement agency under California’s CPRA.

Binding Corporate Rule

Policy for data protection applying to EU companies that transfer EU residents’ personal data outside of the EU.

Data Processing Agreement

Agreement between parties that share EU citizens’ personal data , as required under GDPR.

Data Protection Impact Assessment

Risk evaluation carried out for a data processing activity, legally required in certain cases under Virginia’s CDPA and the EU’s GDPR.

Data Subject Request

A consumer’s request to a business to access, delete, or not sell the personal information that the business holds on them. The activities covered under a DSR depend on the applicable law.

Extract, Transform, Load

General data management term for the process of combining data from multiple sources.

Identifier for Advertisers

A unique device identifier for targeting users for advertising purposes, and advertisers’ access to such identifiers on Apple’s mobile devices now requires explicit user consent following the iOS 14.5 update.

Multi-Factor Authentication (aka 2FA for 2-Factor Authentication)

Process of verifying identity through more than one mechanism, e.g., sending a code to a user’s phone after they have entered their password.

Multi-Party Computation

Cryptography practice in which multiple parties run computations while their inputs are kept private from one another.

Private Right of Action

A right granted under certain laws by which individuals, rather than a government entity like the Attorney General’s office, can sue an organization for violating the law.

Record of Processing Activities

Inventory of how, why, and with whom a business handles EU citizens’ personal data, as required under GDPR.

Standard Contractual Clause

Legal mechanism for sharing the personal data of European Economic Area’s citizens with entities outside of the European Economic Area.

App Tracking Transparency

Anti-tracking feature from Apple, rolled out with the 2021 iOS 14.5 update, which requires apps to receive an iPhone user’s explicit consent in order to track the user’s unique advertising identifier.

End-to-End (Encryption)

An encryption practice in which the cryptographic keys needed to read a message are only accessible at the endpoints of the communication: the sender and the receiver, to the exclusion of intermediate parties such as service providers.

Fully Homomorphic Encryption

Encryption practice which allows an arbitrary number of computations on the encrypted data.

Fair Information Practice Principles

Privacy framework that has shaped privacy legislation as well as privacy engineering initiatives, a predecessor more modern approaches like Privacy by Design (PbD).

Federated Learning of Cohorts

One of Google’s proposed alternatives to cookies for individualized third-party tracking on its Chrome browser, relying on tracking users in groups rather than as individuals.

Google Tag Manager

System for web developers to manage user tracking on their businesses’ websites.

Internet of Things

The interconnected network of devices embedded with computing and sensing abilities, particularly in contexts such as the home or workplace with devices that might not resemble computers in a traditional sense, e.g., a home thermostat with internet connectivity.

Limited Data Use

Feature offered by Facebook in 2020 to businesses, aiming to limit businesses’ collection of Californians’ personal information in order for them to comply with the CCPA.

Privacy By Design

Framework for building privacy into the design of technologies.

Privacy Enhancing Technologies

Tools designed to strengthen users’ privacy and to use minimal amounts of personal information, e.g., pseudonymization.

Partially Homomorphic Encryption

Encryption practice which allows a single computation on the encrypted data.

Personally Identifiable Information

Information that could reasonably identify a unique individual; different regulations have different designations of what pieces of information are considered personally identifiable.

Role-based Access Control

Security and privacy framework with permissions assigned according to personnels’ specific roles.

Right to Be Forgotten

Data right under some privacy laws, in which an individual can request that their personal information be removed from certain databases; sometimes used to refer to GDPR’s right to erasure.

User Agent

Short for “User Agent string,” information on a browser that communicates which browser is being used, the device it’s being used on, and the version of the browser.

Universally Unique Identifier

128-bit value used in software and encryption as a distinct label.