The last chapter of this book is dedicated to perhaps the most important subject of our time: privacy. Its importance is widely underestimated, and the design decisions we make for information systems we help build have a huge impact on our ability to protect the privacy of our users. The question of privacy is often completely omitted, simply because it is believed by many to be impossible to protect in the information society of today. I, as the author of this book, leave this chapter till last, because if there is anything I wish you to take with you in your professional career it is a heightened awareness of how important privacy is, that it is possible to protect, and what you can and must do to protect it. This chapter covers the following topics:

• An introduction to what privacy is and why it matters
• An introduction to new privacy legislation
• How technology can help protect privacy