Methods and Systems for Providing a Notification of a Compliance Level of an Application With Respect to a Privacy Profile Associated With a User

• US 20130305379A1
• Filed: 05/11/2012
• Published: 11/14/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Udani, Sanjay
• Granted Patent: US 8,832,846 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/51 at application loading time, e.g. accepting, rejecting, starting or inhibiting executable software based on integrity or source reliability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/62 Protecting access to data via a platform, e.g. using keys or access control rules
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation

Abstract

An exemplary method includes an application management system 1) detecting a request provided by a user to install an application on a user device, 2) identifying a plurality of privacy attributes of the application, 3) determining, based on the identified privacy attributes, a compliance level of the application with respect to a privacy profile associated with the user, the compliance level representing a degree to which the application complies with the privacy profile associated with the user, and 4) directing, prior to the installation of the application, the user device to present a graphic that represents the determined compliance level of the application. Corresponding methods and systems are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

detecting, by an application management system, a request provided by a user to install an application on a user device;

identifying, by the application management system, a plurality of privacy attributes of the application;

determining, by the application management system based on the identified privacy attributes, a compliance level of the application with respect to a privacy profile associated with the user, the compliance level representing a degree to which the application complies with the privacy profile associated with the user; and

directing, by the application management system prior to the installation of the application, the user device to present a graphic that represents the determined compliance level of the application.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying of the privacy attributes of the application comprises:

analyzing a privacy policy associated with the application; and

identifying the privacy attributes based on the analysis of the privacy policy.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying of the privacy attributes of the application comprises querying at least one of a provider of the application and an entity not associated directly with the application for the privacy attributes of the application.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining of the compliance level of the application comprises:

identifying a plurality of privacy preferences represented by the privacy profile associated with the user;

comparing the identified privacy attributes with the identified privacy preferences; and

determining the compliance level of the application based on the comparison.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining of the compliance level of the application comprises:

comparing the identified privacy attributes of the application with the privacy profile associated with the user; and

selecting the compliance level from a plurality of predefined compliance levels based on the comparison.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the plurality of predefined compliance levels comprise:

a first compliance level representing a relatively high degree of compliance of the application with the privacy profile associated with the user;

a second compliance level representing a relatively low degree of compliance of the application with the privacy profile associated with the user; and

a third compliance level representing a degree of compliance of the application with the privacy profile associated with the user that is in between the relatively high and relatively low degrees of compliance.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the directing of the user device to present the graphic that represents the determined compliance level comprises:

directing the user device to present a first graphic if the first compliance level is selected based on the comparison;

directing the user device to present a second graphic if the second compliance level is selected based on the comparison; and

directing the user device to present a third graphic if the third compliance level is selected based on the comparison;

wherein the first, second, and third graphics are visually distinct one from another.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising directing, by the application management system, the user device to present, within the graphic, at least one of a selectable option to proceed with the installation of the application on the user device and a selectable option to terminate the installation of the application on the user device.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising directing, by the application management system, the user device to present, within the graphic, a description of one or more privacy attributes included in the plurality of privacy attributes of the application that are not in compliance with the privacy profile associated with the user.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing, by the application management system, the user with an option to manually specify one or more privacy preferences represented by the privacy profile.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing, by the application management system, the user with an option to select a predefined privacy profile as the privacy profile associated with the user.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the privacy profile associated with the user is the predefined privacy profile, and wherein the method further comprises:

detecting, by the application management system, a change in the predefined privacy profile; and

automatically updating, by the application management system, the privacy profile associated with the user in accordance with the change in the predefined privacy profile.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting, by the application management system, that the application does not fully comply with the privacy profile associated with the user; and

notifying, by the application management system in response to the detecting that the application does not fully comply with the privacy profile associated with the user, an additional user that the user is attempting to install the application on the user device.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising providing, by the application management system, the additional user with at least one of a selectable option to authorize the user to install the application on the user device and a selectable option to prevent the user from installing the application on the user device.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising maintaining, by the application management system, the privacy profile associated with the user within a remote processing subsystem separate from the user device.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting, by an application management system, a request provided by the user to install an additional application on an additional user device;

identifying, by the application management system, a plurality of privacy attributes of the additional application;

determining, by the application management system based on the identified privacy attributes of the additional application, a compliance level of the additional application with respect to the privacy profile associated with the user, the compliance level of the additional application representing a degree to which the additional application complies with the privacy profile associated with the user; and

directing, by the application management system prior to the installation of the additional application on the additional user device, the additional user device to present a graphic that represents the determined compliance level of the additional application.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting, by the application management system, an attempt by an additional user device to connect to a network of which the user device is a part;

determining, by the application management system in response to the detecting of the attempt by the additional user device to connect to the network, whether the additional user device complies with the privacy profile associated with the user; and

setting one or more network privileges associated with the additional user device based on the determining of whether the additional user device complies with the privacy profile associated with the user.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein:

the determining of whether the additional user device complies with the privacy profile associated with the user comprises determining that the additional user device does not fully comply with the privacy profile associated with the user; and

the setting of the one or more network privileges associated with the additional user device comprises preventing the additional user device from connecting to the network.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying, by the application management system a plurality of privacy attributes of an additional application that is installed on the user device;

determining, by the application management system based on the identified privacy attributes of the additional application, a compliance level of the additional application with respect to the privacy profile associated with the user, the compliance level representing a degree to which the additional application complies with the privacy profile associated with the user; and

directing, by the application management system, the user device to present a graphic that represents the determined compliance level of the of the additional application.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising directing, by the application management system, the user device to present, within the graphic that represents the determined compliance level of the additional application, a selectable option to uninstall the additional application from the user device if the compliance level of the additional application does not fully comply with the privacy profile associated with the user.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the determined compliance level indicates that the application does not fully comply with the privacy profile associated with the user, and wherein the method further comprises directing, by the application management system, the user device to present, within the graphic, a selectable option to install an upgraded version of the application that more fully complies with the privacy profile associated with the user.

22. The method of claim 1, further comprising utilizing, by the application management system, a privacy application executed by the user device to perform at least one of the detecting, the identifying, the determining, and the directing.

23. The method of claim 1, embodied as computer-executable instructions on at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium.

24. A method comprising:

facilitating, by an application management system, creation by a user of a privacy profile that represents a plurality of privacy preferences of the user;

detecting, by the application management system subsequent to the creation of the privacy profile, a request provided by the user to install an application on a user device;

identifying, by the application management system, a plurality of privacy attributes of the application;

comparing, by the application management system, the privacy attributes of the application with the privacy preferences of the user; and

determining, by the application management system based on the comparison, a compliance level of the application with respect to the privacy profile, the compliance level representing a degree to which the application complies with the privacy profile.

25. A system comprising:

a detection facility configured to detect a request provided by a user to install an application on a user device; and

a privacy management facility communicatively coupled to the detection facility and configured to

identify a plurality of privacy attributes of the application,

determine a compliance level of the application with respect to a privacy profile associated with the user, the compliance level representing a degree to which the application complies with the privacy profile associated with the user, and

direct, prior to the installation of the application, the user device to present a graphic that represents the determined compliance level.