How can webmasters balance the need for data collection with the principles of data minimization and privacy protection?

Webmasters can balance the need for data collection with the principles of data minimization and privacy protection by only collecting the minimum amount of data necessary for the website's functionality and clearly communicating their data collection practices to users through a privacy policy. Additionally, webmasters can implement measures such as encryption, anonymization, and regular data audits to protect user data.

// Example of implementing data minimization in PHP
$userData = array(
    'username' => $_POST['username'],
    'email' => $_POST['email']
);

// Only store necessary user data in database
$stmt = $pdo->prepare("INSERT INTO users (username, email) VALUES (:username, :email)");
$stmt->execute($userData);