How do you design and develop programs that respect the privacy and preferences of your users?

Respect, Secure, Enhance! ????? I'd start by deeply understanding our users' needs and privacy expectations. Follow established privacy principles, such as data minimization and purpose limitation. Provide users with clear options and control over their data. Employ robust encryption and authentication mechanisms to protect user data. Regularly test and update the program to address emerging security threats. Continuously learn from user feedback and industry best practices to improve privacy and user experience.

I am a sociologist, so as a program developer, I use the idea of cultural relativism which pushes us to see other groups from their own perspectives. It is important to think about the multiple ways diversity of persons and perspectives exist and how they enter and engage in the spaces you create. It is also crucial to consider that you cannot and will not address all of the needs and differences of all people attending any event you organize. Keeping this in mind helps you think broadly while being realistic about the scope of your event, your budget, and the target audience. I would also recommend considering if your event is one time or recurring, that way you may be able to cover slightly different users over time.

Develop a “persona” of your user by empathy mapping and design thinking. Be sure to get a lot of feedback in 1:1, focus groups, and via A/B testing. In FemTech for example, users of historically marginalized or harmed communities may have a different user experience than those who trust the system. This comes up on sharing of data and how much information is asked.

Have diverse perspectives on your team and be sure you have an internal voice of the skeptic, someone with an identity or lived experience of those who may have reasons to distrust tech or the system. That will balance those on the team who are “believers.”

Privacy-by-Design means integrating privacy features and considerations from the earliest stages of development, rather than retrofitting them later. Collect only the information that is necessary for the service to function. Avoid gathering excessive or unnecessary data that could increase privacy risks. Ensure that personal data is collected for specific, explicit, and legitimate purposes and is not further processed in ways that are incompatible with those purposes. Define clear policies for how long data will be retained and securely delete it when it’s no longer needed.

Ensure that sharing of user data is opt in rather than default, with clear consent. That will give you a reputation of being trustworthy and a good steward of data.

Always seek explicit and informed consent before collecting, processing, or sharing personal information. Allow users to control their privacy settings at a granular level. Make it easy for users to opt out of data collection or delete their accounts if they choose.

Designing programs that respect user privacy is more than just throwing in encryption and authentication—it’s about building trust. Sure, using HTTPS, OAuth, and encryption standards is essential, but it’s also important to give users control over their data and how it's used. Here’s a thought: how do you strike a balance between robust security measures and creating a seamless user experience, without overwhelming users with too many privacy settings or permissions?

Encrypt sensitive data both at rest and in transit. Restrict access to user data within the system to authorized personnel only, following the principle of least privilege. Use techniques like anonymization or pseudonymization to remove personally identifiable information (PII) when the identity of users is not required for the task. Encourage or require users to use two-factor authentication to secure their accounts.

These processes to improve, iterate, test, etc should be intentionally built into your team and company so as to be proactive, not reactive.

Listening to your users is part of being trustworthy. Be sure to utilize multiple ways to get feedback and have processes in place to be Agile.

Other considerations when designing and developing a new program include determinants from outside sources such as State and Federal regulatory requirements. For example, medical related programs may have HIPAA requirements or State licensure requirements. Professional societies may have ethic requirements that could impact the program. Researching all potential variables that could impact a new program by engaging subject matter experts will ensure that you develop a viable program that meets the needs of the end user.