PETs allow online users to protect the privacy of their personally identifiable information (PII), which is often provided to and handled by services or applications.
PETs use techniques to minimize an information system's possession of personal data without losing functionality.
[2] The objective of PETs is to protect personal data and assure technology users of two key privacy points: their own information is kept confidential, and management of data protection is a priority to the organizations who hold responsibility for any PII.
Within private negotiations, the transaction partners may additionally bundle the personal information collection and processing schemes with monetary or non-monetary rewards.
PETs also provide the opportunity for consumers or people who want privacy-protection to hide their personal identities.
Transparency involves granting people with sufficient details about the rationale used in automated decision-making processes.
Additionally, the effort to grant users access is considered soft privacy technology.
[2] Examples of such technologies include onion routing, the secret ballot, and VPNs[6] used for democratic elections.
Some examples include: Examples of privacy enhancing technologies that are being researched or developed include[20] limited disclosure technology, anonymous credentials, negotiation and enforcement of data handling conditions, and data transaction logs.