Managing privacy settings for a social network

• US 8,234,688 B2
• Filed: 04/03/2009
• Issued: 07/31/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/03/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HCL Technologies Limited
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Grandison, Tyrone W. A., Guo, Sherry, Liu, Kun, Richardson, Dwayne L, Sun, Tony, Maximilien, Eugene M
• Primary Examiner(s): Abrishamkar, Kaveh
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, NGOC THACH D
• Application Number:
  US12/418,511
• Publication Number:
  US 20100257577A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,215 Days
• Field of Search: 726/1, 705/319, 715/741, 715/743, 715/744
• US Class Current: 726/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

Methods for managing privacy settings for a social network using an electronic computing device are presented including: causing the electronic computing device to receive a triggering event on the social network; and causing the electronic computing device to determine a number of privacy indices in response to the triggering event, where the number of privacy indices correspond with at least one target user, where the number of privacy indices are normalized from a summation of a number of privacy scores, where the number of privacy scores are each derived from a sum of attribute scores, and where the sum of attribute scores are each derived from a weighted sensitivity value of an attribute and a user relationship distance value of a user and the target user.

Claims

1. A method for managing privacy settings for a social network using an electronic computing device, the method comprising:

causing the electronic computing device to receive a triggering event on the social network; and

causing the electronic computing device to determine a plurality of privacy indices in response to the triggering event, wherein

the plurality of privacy indices correspond with at least one target user, wherein

the plurality of privacy indices are normalized from a summation of a plurality of privacy scores, wherein

the plurality of privacy scores are each derived from a sum of attribute scores, and wherein

the sum of attribute scores are each derived from a weighted sensitivity value of an attribute and a user relationship distance value of a user and the target user, wherein the weighted sensitivity value represents a numeric representation of a sensitivity of the attribute to a user, and wherein the user relationship distance value represents a quantification of trust between the user and the target user.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

causing the electronic computing device to calculate a recommended privacy setting for the user based on the plurality of privacy indices, wherein the recommended privacy setting represents a highest privacy index of the plurality of privacy indices, and wherein the highest privacy index indicates a most secure privacy setting;

causing the electronic computing device to display a current privacy setting for the user; and

causing the electronic computing device to display the recommended privacy setting for the user.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

causing the electronic computing device to implement the recommended privacy setting if the user desires a higher privacy setting; and

causing the electronic computing device to maintain the current privacy setting if the user does not desire the higher privacy setting.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the triggering event may be selected from the following:

the user creates a group . . . and the friend removes the user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the attribute may be selected from the following:

a personal data attribute, a contact data attribute, an education data attribute, a business data attribute, a hobby data attribute, an interest data attribute, and a user relationship data attribute.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein each attribute is assigned the weighted sensitivity value based on a determination of a level of importance to the user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the user relationship distance value is defined by a relationship, which may be selected from the following:

a close friend relationship, a friend relationship, a friend of a friend relationship, an acquaintance relationship, a group relationship, and a network relationship.

8. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

modifying the current privacy setting to add a subset of the recommended privacy setting.

9. A computing device program product for managing privacy settings for a social network using a computing device, the computing device program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable medium;

first programmatic instructions for receiving a triggering event; and

second programmatic instructions for determining a plurality of privacy indices in response to the triggering event, wherein

the plurality of privacy indices correspond with at least one target user, wherein

the plurality of privacy indices are normalized from a summation of a plurality of privacy scores, wherein

the plurality of privacy scores are each derived from a sum of attribute scores, and wherein

the sum of attribute scores are each derived from a weighted sensitivity value of an attribute and a user relationship distance value of a user and the target user, wherein the weighted sensitivity value represents a numeric representation of a sensitivity of the attribute to a user, wherein the user relationship distance value represents a quantification of trust between the user and the target user, and wherein the programmatic instructions are stored on the computer readable storage medium.

10. The computing device program product of claim 9, further comprising:

third programmatic instructions for calculating a recommended privacy setting for the user based on the plurality of privacy indices, wherein the recommended privacy setting represents a highest privacy index of the plurality of privacy indices, wherein the highest privacy index indicates a most secure privacy setting;

fourth programmatic instructions for displaying a current privacy setting for the user;

fifth programmatic instructions for displaying the recommended privacy setting for the user;

sixth programmatic instructions for implementing the recommended privacy setting if the user desires a higher privacy setting; and

seventh programmatic instructions for maintaining the current privacy setting if the user does not desire the higher privacy setting.

11. The computing device program product of claim 9, wherein the triggering event may be selected from the following:

the user creates a group . . . and the friend removes the user.

12. The computing device program product of claim 9, wherein the attribute may be selected from the following:

a personal data attribute, a contact data attribute, an education data attribute, a business data attribute, a hobby data attribute, an interest data attribute, and a user relationship data attribute.

13. The computing device program product of claim 9, wherein the user relationship distance value is defined by a relationship, which may be selected from the following:

a close friend relationship, a friend relationship, a friend of a friend relationship, an acquaintance relationship, a group relationship, and a network relationship.

14. The computing device program product of claim 10, further comprising:

eighth programmatic instructions for modifying the current privacy setting to add a subset of the recommended privacy setting.

15. A privacy manager having a privacy recommendation component for managing privacy settings for a social network, the privacy manager comprising:

a privacy score calculator module for determining a plurality of privacy indices in response to the triggering event, wherein

the plurality of privacy indices are normalized from a summation of a plurality of privacy scores, wherein

the plurality of privacy scores are each derived from a sum of attribute scores, wherein

the sum of attribute scores are each derived from a weighted sensitivity value of an attribute and a user relationship distance value of a user and the target user, and wherein

the weighted sensitivity value represents a numeric representation of a sensitivity of the attribute to a user;

a privacy enforcer module for managing conflicts associated with accepting the privacy recommendation;

a privacy model module for managing a user relationship, the user relationship utilized for defining a user relationship distance value, wherein the user relationship distance value represents a quantification of trust between the user and the target user; and

a privacy elections module for designating the user relationship between a user and a target.

16. The privacy manager of claim 15, wherein

the privacy manager is configured to communicate with a models component, the models component configured to display the privacy settings within the social network, and wherein

the privacy manager is further configured to communicate with a plurality of controllers, the controllers configured for interfacing the privacy manager with a user interface and the models component.

17. The privacy manager of claim 16, wherein the privacy manager is further configured to access a repository, the repository configured for storing non-transient data associated with the privacy manager.

18. The privacy manager of claim 15, wherein the privacy manager is enabled over an application server, wherein the application server is in electronic communication with the social network.