I want privacy and residency to be built into how our APIs handle data, not bolted on after a regulator or a customer asks the hard question. That means we classify the PII moving through our APIs so we know exactly what is sensitive, we enforce where that data is allowed to live so residency requirements are real and not aspirational, and we define retention so data does not linger past its purpose. Data flowing through an API is easy to lose track of, and the moment we cannot say what we hold, where it sits, and how long we keep it, we are exposed. For the business this is straightforward risk and compliance management that keeps us out of trouble and keeps deals moving, and for the people we serve it is the trust that we are handling their information the way we said we would.
APIs Respect Data Privacy and Residency
Policies
Data Privacy and PII Classified
I require that every schema property carrying personally identifiable information is explicitly classified as such in the API definition, so that PII is visible to governance, tooling, and downstre...
Data Residency Enforced
I require that every API declares where the data it handles is stored and processed, and that those residency commitments are actually enforced rather than merely stated in a policy document. Consu...
Data Retention Defined
Require that every API declare a written retention policy stating how long each category of data is kept, why it is kept, and when it is destroyed. I expect this policy to be discoverable alongside...
Experiences
Privacy
Privacy is the experience of handling the personal data that flows through APIs responsibly. APIs move sensitive information constantly, and the people that data belongs to have a stake in how it i...
Compliance
Compliance is the experience of meeting the legal, regulatory, and internal obligations that come with operating an API. For many teams it feels like a burden bolted on at the end, but the reality ...
Legal
The legal aspects of producing and consuming APIs can quickly derail even the best-laid plans for API producers and disrupt the roadmaps of developers building applications and integrations. Terms ...
Trust
Establish trust with API consumers will evolve and build over time, and is something that can be lost in a very short period of time. Trust will depend on other experiences like quality and reliabi...
