Method and apparatus for enforcing data privacy

• US 10,318,759 B2
• Filed: 03/06/2017
• Issued: 06/11/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Vaha-Sipila, Antti Oskari, Kujala, Henri Tapani, Niva, Mikko Antero, Oliver, Ian Justin
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Khoi V
• Application Number:
  US15/450,862
• Publication Number:
  US 20170243026A1
• Time in Patent Office: 827 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/53 by executing in a restricted environment, e.g. sandbox or secure virtual machine
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6281 at program execution time, where the protection is within the operating system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2111 Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/107 wherein the security policies are location-dependent, e.g. entities privileges depend on current location or allowing specific operations only from locally connected terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/02 Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII]

Abstract

An approach for maintaining user privacy information is described. A privacy management platform determines a request, from one or more applications, for access to local data associated with a device. The platform then determines and processes one or more privacy profile objects associated with the local data to determine one or more privacy policies associated with the local data, the device, or a combination thereof. Enforcement of the one or more privacy policies is then caused for granting access to the local data.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a privacy platform, an alert that one or more applications has initiated a request for a sharing of local data stored at a device, wherein the privacy platform is independent of the one or more applications, and wherein the local data includes sensor data collected by one or more sensors of the device;

in response to the alert and prior to the sharing of the local data by the one or more applications, determining one or more privacy profile objects specifying one or more privacy policies for with respect to the sharing of the local data, wherein the one or more privacy profile objects are independent of the one or more applications and are created by a trusted external organization, the one or more privacy profile objects being configured for the user to selectively grant the sharing of the local data by the one or more applications, and wherein the trusted external organization is independent from one or more service providers associated with the one or more applications;

initiating an enforcement of the one or more privacy policies by applying at least one transformation of the local data to generate transformed local data that satisfies the one or more privacy policies, wherein the enforcement of the one or more privacy policies further comprises generating a prompt requesting an approval from a user of the device for granting the sharing of the local data by the one or more applications; and

fulfilling the request for the sharing of the local data by granting the one or more applications a sharing right for the transformed local data in place of the local data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the enforcement of the one or more privacy policies further comprises presenting an indicator representative of the one or more privacy profile objects in a user interface of the device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the enforcement of the one or more privacy policies further comprises denying the sharing of the local data by the one or more applications.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

processing the one or more privacy profile objects to determine one or more resources related to the enforcement of the one or more privacy policies.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one transformation includes transforming the local data from a first level of data granularity to a second level of data granularity of the transformed local data.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first level of data granularity and the second level of data granularity are previously stored in at least one source of the local data.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one transformation of the local data includes decreasing level of accuracy of the local data, replacing partial of the local data with some other data, or/and adjusting granularity level of the local data.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the privacy policy objects are remotely programmable.

9. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code for one or more programs, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following,

receive, at a privacy platform, an alert that one or more applications has initiated a request for a sharing of local data stored at a device, wherein the privacy platform is independent of the one or more applications, and wherein the local data includes sensor data collected by one or more sensors of the device;

in response to the alert and prior to the sharing of the local data by the one or more applications, determine one or more privacy profile objects specifying one or more privacy policies for with respect to the sharing of the local data, wherein the one or more privacy profile objects are independent of the one or more applications and are created by a trusted external organization, the one or more privacy profile objects being configured for the user to selectively grant the sharing of the local data by the one or more applications, and wherein the trusted external organization is independent from one or more service providers associated with the one or more applications;

initiate an enforcement of the one or more privacy policies by applying at least one transformation of the local data to generate transformed local data that satisfies the one or more privacy policies, wherein the enforcement of the one or more privacy policies further comprises generating a prompt requesting an approval from a user of the device for granting the sharing of the local data by the one or more applications; and

fulfill the request for the sharing of the local data by granting the one or more applications a sharing right for the transformed local data in place of the local data.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the enforcement of the one or more privacy policies further comprises presenting an indicator representative of the one or more privacy profile objects in a user interface of the device.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the enforcement of the one or more privacy policies further comprises denying the sharing of the local data by the one or more applications.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

process the one or more privacy profile objects to determine one or more resources related to the enforcement of the one or more privacy policies.

13. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the at least one transformation includes transforming the local data from a first level of data granularity to a second level of data granularity of the transformed local data.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the first level of data granularity and the second level of data granularity are previously stored in at least one source of the local data.

15. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the at least one transformation of the local data includes decreasing level of accuracy of the local data, replacing partial of the local data with some other data, or/and adjusting granularity level of the local data.

16. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the privacy policy objects are remotely programmable.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause an apparatus to perform:

receiving, at a privacy platform, an alert that one or more applications has initiated a request for a sharing of local data stored at a device, wherein the privacy platform is independent of the one or more applications, and wherein the local data includes sensor data collected by one or more sensors of the device;

in response to the alert and prior to the sharing of the local data by the one or more applications, determining one or more privacy profile objects specifying one or more privacy policies for with respect to the sharing of the local data, wherein the one or more privacy profile objects are independent of the one or more applications and are created by a trusted external organization, the one or more privacy profile objects being configured for the user to selectively grant the sharing of the local data by the one or more applications, and wherein the trusted external organization is independent from one or more service providers associated with the one or more applications;

initiating an enforcement of the one or more privacy policies by applying at least one transformation of the local data to generate transformed local data that satisfies the one or more privacy policies, wherein the enforcement of the one or more privacy policies further comprises generating a prompt requesting an approval from a user of the device for granting the sharing of the local data by the one or more applications; and

fulfilling the request for the sharing of the local data by granting the one or more applications a sharing right for the transformed local data in place of the local data.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the enforcement of the one or more privacy policies further comprises presenting an indicator representative of the one or more privacy profile objects in a user interface of the device.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the enforcement of the one or more privacy policies further comprises denying the sharing of the local data by the one or more applications.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the at least one transformation of the local data includes decreasing level of accuracy of the local data, replacing partial of the local data with some other data, or/and adjusting granularity level of the local data.