Providing and managing privacy scores

• US 9,704,203 B2
• Filed: 07/31/2009
• Issued: 07/11/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Grandison, Tyrone W. A., Liu, Kun, Maxmilien, Michael, Richardson, Dwayne L., Sun, Tony, Guo, Sherry
• Primary Examiner(s): Mamillapalli, Pavan
• Application Number:
  US12/533,694
• Publication Number:
  US 20110029566A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,902 Days
• Field of Search: 707999101, 707784
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

Methods for providing a privacy setting for a target user in a social network utilizing an electronic computing device are presented, the method including: causing the electronic computing device to retrieve a current privacy setting for a common profile item, where the common profile item corresponds with the target user and each of a number of users, and where the common profile item is one of a number of common profile items; causing the electronic computing device to calculate a common profile item sensitivity value for the common profile item based on the current privacy setting; causing the electronic computing device to calculate a common profile item visibility value for the common profile item based on the a current privacy setting and the sensitivity value for the common profile item; and causing the electronic computing device to calculate the privacy score of the target user.

Claims

1. A method for providing a privacy score for a target user in a social network utilizing an electronic computing device, the method comprising:

retrieving a current privacy setting for a common profile item in the social network, wherein the current privacy setting indicates whether a common profile item is private or shared, wherein the common profile item corresponds with the target user in the social network and all other users in the social network, wherein the common profile item is a profile item shared between the target user and all other users, and wherein the common profile item is one of a plurality of common profile items;

calculating a common profile item sensitivity value for the common profile item based on the current privacy setting for all users in the social network, wherein the sensitivity value represents a proportion of the common profile item that is shared by the target user with all other users, wherein the current privacy setting represents a value corresponding with whether or not the common profile item is shared, wherein the sensitivity value is computed in accordance with the formula β

_i=(N−

IR_iI)/N, wherein, β

_i is the sensitivity value, wherein, N=a number of all users, and wherein Ri=a number of times the common profile item is shared;

calculating a common profile item visibility value for the common profile item based on the current privacy setting and the sensitivity value for the common profile item, wherein the visibility value represents a product of the sensitivity value and a proportion of sharing of the common profile items for the target user;

calculating the privacy score of the target user;

displaying the privacy score for the target user; and

displaying a privacy bar for displaying privacy settings relative to a continuum, the privacy bar including a dragging scroll bar for allowing a user to choose a selected privacy setting such that settings for the common profile item in the social network are automatically changed to reflect the selected privacy setting.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

continuing the retrieving and the calculating until the common profile item sensitivity value for each of the plurality of common profile items is calculated;

calculating a partial privacy score of the target user, wherein the partial privacy score combines the common profile item sensitivity value and the common profile item visibility value; and

continuing the retrieving and the calculating until the partial privacy score for each of the plurality of common profile items is calculated.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the privacy score of the target user is a sum of the partial privacy scores.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the common profile item sensitivity value and the common profile item visibility value are based on sharing between the target user and all other users.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the common profile item sensitivity value comprises a proportion of the common profile item that is shared by the target user with all other users.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the common profile item visibility value comprises a product of:

a) the common profile item sensitivity value; and

b) a proportion of sharing of the plurality of common profile items for the target user.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the common profile item sensitivity value and the common profile item visibility value are further based on a relationship between the target user and all other users.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the relationship is selected without limitation from the group consisting of:

a close friend relationship, a friend relationship, a friend of a friend relationship, an acquaintance relationship, a group relationship, and a network relationship and wherein the relationship is assigned a numeric level.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the common profile item sensitivity value comprises a proportion of the common profile item that is shared by the target user all other users with respect to the relationship between the target user and all other users.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the common profile item visibility value comprises a product of:

a) the common profile item sensitivity value; and

b) a product of a proportion of sharing of the plurality of common profile items for the target user and the numeric level.

11. The method of claim 2, wherein the partial privacy score is a product of the common profile item sensitivity value and the common profile item visibility value.

12. A computing device program product for providing a privacy score for a target user in a social network using an electronic computing device, the computing device program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable medium;

first programmatic instructions for retrieving a current privacy setting for a common profile item in the social network, wherein the current privacy setting indicates whether a common profile item is private or shared, wherein the common profile item corresponds with the target user in the social network and all other users in the social network, wherein the common profile item is a profile item shared between the target use and all other users, and wherein the common profile item is one of a plurality of common profile items;

second programmatic instructions for calculating a common profile item sensitivity value for the common profile item based on the current privacy setting for all users in the social network, wherein the sensitivity value represents a proportion of the common profile item that is shared by the target user with all other users, wherein the current privacy setting is a value corresponding with whether or not the common profile item is shared wherein the sensitivity value is computed in accordance with the formula β

_i=(N−

IR_iI)/N, wherein, β

_i is the sensitivity value, wherein, N=a number of all users, and wherein Ri=a number of times the common profile item is shared;

third programmatic instructions for retrieving the current privacy setting of the common profile item of the target user;

fourth programmatic instructions for calculating a common profile item visibility value for the common profile item based on the a current privacy setting and the sensitivity value for the common profile item wherein the visibility value represents a product of the sensitivity value and a proportion of sharing of the common profile items for the target user;

fifth programmatic instructions for calculating the privacy score of the target user, wherein the programmatic instruction are stored on the computer readable storage medium, wherein the programmatic instructions are stored on the non-transitory computer readable medium;

seventh programmatic instructions for displaying the privacy score for the target user; and

eighth programmatic instructions for displaying a privacy bar for displaying privacy settings relative to a continuum, the privacy bar including a dragging scroll bar for allowing a user to choose a selected privacy setting such that settings for the common profile item in the social network are automatically changed to reflect the selected privacy setting.

13. The computing device program product of claim 12, further comprising:

continuing the retrieving and the calculating until the common profile item sensitivity value for each of the plurality of common profile items is calculated;

sixth programmatic instructions for calculating a partial privacy score of the target user, wherein the partial privacy score combines the common profile item sensitivity value and the common profile item visibility value; and

continuing the retrieving and the calculating until the partial privacy score for each of the plurality of common profile items is calculated.

14. The computing device program product of claim 13, wherein the privacy score of the target user is a sum of the partial privacy scores.

15. The computing device program product of claim 12, wherein the common profile item sensitivity value and the common profile item visibility value are based on sharing between the target user and all other users.

16. The computing device program product of claim 15, wherein the common profile item sensitivity value comprises a proportion of the common profile item that is shared by the target user with all other users.

17. The computing device program product of claim 16, wherein the common profile item visibility value comprises a product of:

a) the common profile item sensitivity value; and

b) a proportion of sharing of the plurality of common profile items for the target user.

18. The computing device program product of claim 15, wherein the common profile item sensitivity value and the common profile item visibility value are further based on a relationship between the target user and all other users.

19. The computing device program product of claim 18, wherein the relationship is selected without limitation from the group consisting of:

a close friend relationship, a friend relationship, a friend of a friend relationship, an acquaintance relationship, a group relationship, and a network relationship and wherein the relationship is assigned a numeric level.

20. The computing device program product of claim 18, wherein the common profile item sensitivity value comprises a proportion of the common profile item that is shared by the target user all other users with respect to the relationship between the target user and all other users.

21. The computing device program product of claim 20, wherein the common profile item visibility value comprises a product of:

a) the common profile item sensitivity value; and

b) a proportion of sharing of the plurality of common profile items for the target user.

22. The computing device program product of claim 12, wherein the partial privacy score is a product of the common profile item sensitivity value and the common profile item visibility value.