The principle of collecting only the data that is necessary for a specific purpose, reducing the risk of misuse or breach.
A privacy best practice and legal requirement (e.g., under GDPR) that limits data collection to the minimum fields needed for a given use case. It reduces exposure to breaches and simplifies compliance by avoiding unnecessary sensitive data. Implemented via requirements analysis, collection forms that enforce field restrictions, and periodic data-purging routines to delete obsolete records.
A ride-hailing app redesigns its signup flow to collect only name, email, and payment info - removing optional profile fields like “home address.” They also schedule quarterly scripts to purge GPS logs older than 30 days, minimizing data-breach impact and simplifying consent management.
