Marrying Transparency Tools with User-Controlled Identity Management

User-controlled identity management systems assist individuals in managing their private sphere. An individual’s privacy can be supported by transparency on processing of personal data. After giving an overview on transparency properties as well as its relation to privacy and data protection regulation, this text introduces different transparency tools: Prior to an interaction, information on the interacting party should be made transparent. During the interaction, privacy policies have to be communicated. Afterwards, users should be helped in exercising their privacy rights such as, among others, the right to access own personal data. In addition information on security and privacy incidents provides complementary data for the user’s perception of the level of privacy. Although transparency tools alone are no panacea for maintaining the private sphere, the combination of transparency tools and user-controlled identity management systems yields viable functionality to empower users to protect their privacy.