Monitoring and Managing User Privacy Levels

• US 20130239220A1
• Filed: 03/12/2012
• Published: 09/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Gjonej, Gerard, Li, Ying
• Granted Patent: US 8,893,287 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6254 by anonymising data, e.g. decorrelating personal data from the owner's identification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6263 during internet communication, e.g. revealing personal data from cookies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1408 by monitoring network traffic monitoring network traffic per se H04L43/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1433 Vulnerability analysis
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

Various embodiments pertain to techniques for measuring a user'"'"'s privacy level as a user interacts with various web services. In various embodiments, entities with which the user interacts are detected and sensitive information shared by the user is logged to determine what a given entity knows about the user. In some embodiments, sensitive information that is shared by a user can be processed using a predictive algorithm to ascertain a user'"'"'s level of privacy. When a user'"'"'s identity is predicted by the algorithm, a user can be alerted to the loss of anonymity. In various embodiments, user-defined areas of anonymity can be used to measure a user'"'"'s definition of privacy. In some embodiments, alerts can also be provided to the user when a new, previously undisclosed, piece of information is shared by the user.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving disclosed data;

attempting to determine an identity of a user disclosing the data based on the disclosed data; and

responsive to determining the identity of the user disclosing the data, transmitting a notice of a loss of privacy.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, receiving disclosed data comprising receiving:

data transmitted as part of a user query;

data input into a web page;

data extracted from HTML, script, or other code of a web page;

data regarding a called web page;

data regarding an IP address from which a request for a web page was transmitted;

user login credential information;

information regarding a user'"'"'s previous request for a web page;

or data regarding time spent viewing a web page.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

grouping the disclosed data into one or more groups based on an entity to which the data was disclosed.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, grouping the disclosed data into one or more groups comprising grouping the disclosed data into one or more groups based on a web page to which the data was disclosed.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, grouping the disclosed data into one or more groups comprising grouping the disclosed data into one or more groups based on a group of connections on a social network to which the data was disclosed.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, attempting to determine the identity of the user comprising:

entering at least a portion of the data in one of the one or more groups into an algorithm for finding data in a data index; and

determining, based on the data index, if the identity of the user can be determined from the disclosed data.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprising:

determining the identity of the user disclosing the data responsive to;

a name of the user being returned as one of top results in the data index, a name of the user being returned on a first page of results in the data index, identifying information unique to the user being returned as one of the top results in the data index, or identifying information unique to the user being returned on a first page of results in the data index.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprising:

determining the identity of the user disclosing the data responsive to determining, based on the disclosed data, a likelihood of a match to the user.

9. One or more computer-readable storage media comprising instructions that are executable to cause a device to perform a process comprising:

receiving a plurality of data points disclosed to an entity;

selecting a combination of the plurality of data points; and

outputting sensitive information obtainable based on the combination.

10. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 9, the process further comprising:

determining, based on comparing the combination of the plurality of data points with a data index, sensitive information obtainable based on the combination.

11. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 10, determining sensitive information obtainable based on the combination comprising information regarding a user'"'"'s educational accomplishments, information regarding a user'"'"'s current job, information regarding a user'"'"'s page on a social network, a user'"'"'s name, a user'"'"'s date of birth, a location of a user'"'"'s residence, a user'"'"'s phone number, a user'"'"'s email address, a user'"'"'s credit card number, a user'"'"'s medical history, or a user'"'"'s health insurance information.

12. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 10, outputting sensitive information obtainable based on the combination comprising transmitting:

a notification to a user to indicate an item of sensitive information is obtainable by the entity, a listing of various pieces of sensitive information obtainable by the entity, or a periodic report showing sensitive information obtainable by the entity over a history of the user'"'"'s interaction with the entity.

13. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 9, receiving a plurality of data points disclosed to an entity comprising receiving:

data transmitted as part of a user query;

data input into a web page;

data extracted from HTML, script, or other code of a web page;

data regarding a called web page;

data regarding an IP address from which a request for a web page was transmitted;

user login credential information;

information regarding a user'"'"'s previous request for a web page;

or data regarding time spent viewing a web page.

14. A device comprising:

one or more processors;

one or more computer-readable storage media; and

one or more modules embodied on the one or more computer-readable storage media and executable under the influence of the one or more processors, the one or more modules configured to;

detect data disclosed to an entity;

transmit disclosed data to a privacy monitoring service; and

receive, from the privacy monitoring service and responsive to the data disclosed, a notice of loss of anonymity.

15. The device of claim 14, the one or more modules further configured to:

group the data disclosed according to the entity to which the data was disclosed.

16. The device of claim 15, wherein the entity to which the data was disclosed comprises a web page to which the data was disclosed;

a plurality of web pages to which the data was disclosed;

or a group of connections on a social network with which the data is shared.

17. The device of claim 15, wherein the data disclosed comprises data transmitted as part of a user query;

data input into a web page;

data extracted from HTML, script, or other code of a web page;

data regarding a called web page;

data regarding an IP address from which a request for a web page was transmitted;

user login credential information;

information regarding a user'"'"'s previous request for a web page;

or data regarding time spent viewing a web page.

18. The device of claim 14, the one or more modules further configured to:

identify apiece of information intended for disclosure to the entity;

determine that the piece of information intended for disclosure has not previously been disclosed to the entity; and

provide a notice that the piece of information intended for disclosure has not previously been disclosed to the entity.

19. The device of claim 18, wherein the piece of information intended for disclosure is determined to not previously have been disclosed to the entity based on a comparison of the piece of information intended for disclosure with detected data disclosed.

20. The device of claim 14, the one or more modules further configured to:

ascertain navigation to a URL; and

including information regarding navigation to the URL with the detected data disclosed.