What if data protection embraced foresight and speculative design?

Due to rapid technological advancements and the growing “datafication” of our societies, individuals’ privacy constitutes an increasingly explored speculative space for regulators, researchers, practitioners, designers and artists. This article reports two experiences at a national and an international data protection authority (i.e., the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés - CNIL - and the European Data Protection Supervisor - EDPS - respectively), where foresight methods and speculative design are employed in policy-making with the goal of anticipating technological trends, their implications for society and their impact on regulations, as well as the effects of existing and upcoming laws on emerging technologies. Such initiatives can enhance strategic proactive abilities, raise public awareness of privacy issues and engender a participatory approach to the design of policies. They can also inspire the research, education and practice of legal design.