Dynamically updating privacy settings in a social network

• US 9,218,496 B2
• Filed: 03/12/2014
• Issued: 12/22/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Callahan, Ezra, Wang, James H., Vera, Nicolas
• Primary Examiner(s): ROBINSON, GRETA LEE
• Application Number:
  US14/205,837
• Publication Number:
  US 20140196157A1
• Time in Patent Office: 650 Days
• Field of Search: 707/783, 707/784, 707/999.09, 707/785, 707/999.009, 709/204, 709/224, 715/741, 715/758, 715/772, 715/971, 705/319, 726/27, 726/28
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/604 Tools and structures for managing or administering access control systems
• 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 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6263 during internet communication, e.g. revealing personal data from cookies
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2115 Third party
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2119 Authenticating web pages, e.g. with suspicious links
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2141 Access rights, e.g. capability lists, access control lists, access tables, access matrices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

A social network allows its members to regulate what data is accessible to other members using one or more privacy settings. A particular member of the social network can modify the one or privacy settings to grant or deny different users access to different data. When a member modifies a privacy setting, the social network determines which information pathways communicating data between members are affected. The affected information pathways are then modified responsive to the privacy setting to communicate data identified by the modified privacy setting and enforce the new privacy restrictions.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying a change in a privacy setting for a user of a social networking system, the change in the privacy setting affecting direct and indirect distribution of one or more items of user data associated with the user to a second user of the social networking system, wherein direct distribution is between the user and the second user, and indirect distribution is between the second user and another user of the social networking system that is connected to the user in the social networking system; and

responsive to the identified change in the privacy setting,

determining one or more information pathways of the social networking system that are affected by the change in the privacy setting, each information pathway being representative of a different way the user data may be distributed to users of the social networking system, and

propagating the change to the determined one or more information pathways such that direct and indirect distribution user data to the second user is affected in accordance with the changed privacy setting.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the social networking system comprises a social networking website.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein propagating the change to the determined one or more information pathways such that direct and indirect distribution of the user data to the second user is affected in accordance with the change in the privacy setting, further comprises:

generating for the determined one or more information pathways a message that communicates the change in the privacy setting, wherein the generating incorporates the one or more items of user data of one or more users into the message subject to the privacy settings;

communicating the message in the determined one or more information pathways to one or more users of the social networking system; and

modifying at least one of the determined one or more information pathways affected by the changed privacy setting.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the change in the privacy setting restricts direct and indirect distribution of the user data to the second user via an information pathway, and modifying at least one of the determined one or more information pathways affected by the change in the privacy setting comprises removing at least one of the determined one or more information pathways.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the change in the privacy setting allows direct and indirect distribution of the user data to the second user, and modifying at least one of the determined information pathways affected by the change in the privacy setting comprises adding at least one new information pathway to the determined one or more information pathways.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein an information pathway comprises a newsfeed story received by the user, a newsfeed story received by a friend of the user, viewing a picture associated with the user, viewing a video associated with the user, an event the user receives data about, a group the user joins or a search engine result including data associated with the user.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

analyzing results of a search of the social networking system, the search result including data associated with the user for display to the second user via at least one of the determined one or more information pathways; and

generating a modified search result by removing the data associated with the user from the search result responsive to the changed privacy setting.

8. A system comprising:

a computer processor; and

a privacy engine configured to;

identify a change in a privacy setting for a user of a social networking system, the change in the privacy setting affecting direct and indirect distribution of one or more items of user data associated with the user to a second user of the social networking system, wherein direct distribution is between the user and the second user, and indirect distribution is between the second user and another user of the social networking system that is connected to the user in the social networking system; and

responsive to the identified change in the privacy setting,

determine one or more information pathways of the social networking system that are affected by the change in the privacy setting, each information pathway being representative of a different way the user data may be distributed to users of the social networking system, and

propagate the change to the determined one or more information pathways such that direct and indirect distribution of the user data to the second user is affected in accordance with the changed privacy setting.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the social networking system comprises a social networking website.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the privacy engine is further configured to:

generate for the determined one or more information pathways a message that communicates the change in the privacy setting, wherein the generating incorporates the one or more items of user data of one or more users into the message subject to the privacy settings;

communicate the message in the determined one or more information pathways to one or more users of the social networking system; and

modify at least one of the determined one or more information pathways affected by the changed privacy setting.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the change in the privacy setting restricts direct and indirect distribution of the user data to the second user via an information pathway, and modifying at least one of the determined one or more information pathways affected by the change in the privacy setting comprises removing at least one of the determined one or more information pathways.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the change in the privacy setting allows direct and indirect distribution of the user data to the second user, and modifying at least one of the determined information pathways affected by the change in the privacy setting comprises adding at least one new information pathway to the determined one or more information pathways.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein an information pathway comprises a newsfeed story received by the user, a newsfeed story received by a friend of the user, viewing a picture associated with the user, viewing a video associated with the user, an event the user receives data about, a group the user joins or a search engine result including data associated with the user.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the privacy engine is further configured to:

analyze results of a search of the social networking system, the search result including data associated with the user for display to the second user via at least one of the determined one or more information pathways; and

generate a modified search result by removing the data associated with the user from the search result responsive to the changed privacy setting.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions to be executed by a computer processor of computer system to carry out the steps of:

identifying a change in a privacy setting for a user of a social networking system, the change in the privacy setting affecting direct and indirect distribution of one or more items of user data associated with the user to a second user of the social networking system, wherein direct distribution is between the user and the second user, and indirect distribution is between the second user and another user of the social networking system that is connected to the user in the social networking system; and

responsive to the identified change in the privacy setting,

determining one or more information pathways of the social networking system that are affected by the change in the privacy setting, each information pathway being representative of a different way the user data may be distributed to users of the social networking system, and

propagating the change to the determined one or more information pathways such that direct and indirect distribution user data to the second user is affected in accordance with the changed privacy setting.

16. The computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein propagating the change to the determined one or more information pathways such that direct and indirect distribution of the user data to the second user is affected in accordance with the change in the privacy setting, further comprises:

generating for the determined one or more information pathways a message that communicates the change in the privacy setting, wherein the generating incorporates the one or more items of user data of one or more users into the message subject to the privacy settings;

communicating the message in the determined one or more information pathways to one or more users of the social networking system; and

modifying at least one of the determined one or more information pathways affected by the changed privacy setting.

17. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the change in the privacy setting restricts direct and indirect distribution of the user data to the second user via an information pathway, and modifying at least one of the determined one or more information pathways affected by the change in the privacy setting comprises removing at least one of the determined one or more information pathways.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the change in the privacy setting allows direct and indirect distribution of the user data to the second user, and modifying at least one of the determined information pathways affected by the change in the privacy setting comprises adding at least one new information pathway to the determined one or more information pathways.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein an information pathway comprises a newsfeed story received by the user, a newsfeed story received by a friend of the user, viewing a picture associated with the user, viewing a video associated with the user, an event the user receives data about, a group the user joins or a search engine result including data associated with the user.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 15, further comprising:

analyzing results of a search of the social networking system, the search result including data associated with the user for display to the second user via at least one of the determined one or more information pathways; and

generating a modified search result by removing the data associated with the user from the search result responsive to the changed privacy setting.