Advertisement Gateway IP Hashing for Privacy
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Solution Overview
Problem
Electronic devices face profiling issues when advertisements are requested from content providers, as providers can misuse identifying information to track user behavior over time, leading to loss of control for communication service providers over advertisement selection.
Innovation Solution
An advertisement gateway system is implemented to mediate communications between electronic devices and advertisement/content providers, filtering and rewriting identifying information to create a unique identifier, ensuring that all communications pass through the gateway and preventing long-term profiling by hashing identifying information with a temporary identifier.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If advertisement providers receive identifying information directly from electronic devices, then they can select and deliver targeted advertisements, but they can also misuse the identifying information to track user behavior over time
Solution Approach 1:
An advertisement gateway is introduced as an intermediary component between electronic devices and advertisement providers. The gateway receives advertisement requests from devices, hashes the identifying information (such as IP addresses) with temporary identifiers to create pseudonymous unique identifiers, and forwards these modified requests to advertisement providers. This intermediary structure enables targeted advertising while preventing direct access to real identifying information, thus resolving the contradiction between advertisement effectiveness and user privacy protection.
2Productivity
If communication service providers allow direct communication between devices and advertisement providers, then advertisement delivery is efficient, but service providers lose control over advertisement selection
Solution Approach 1:
The advertisement gateway serves as a controlled intermediary that maintains service provider authority over the advertisement ecosystem. The gateway implements policies for advertisement request routing, applies hashing transformations to identifying information, and manages the interaction between devices and providers. This centralized control point enables service providers to maintain oversight and policy enforcement while still enabling efficient advertisement delivery through automated processing.
3Measurement precision
If identifying information is transmitted in plain form, then advertisement providers can accurately identify devices for targeted advertising, but user privacy is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The system transforms identifying information by applying cryptographic hashing functions combined with temporary identifiers. This parameter transformation converts real identifying data (such as IP addresses) into pseudonymous unique identifiers that maintain consistency across multiple requests from the same device while preventing reverse engineering to original identities. The transformation preserves the functional ability to identify and track device behavior for advertising purposes while eliminating direct exposure of personal identifying information.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of mediating advertisements through an advertisement gateway comprises receiving, at an advertisement gateway, a request message for an advertisement from an electronic device, hashing identifying information in the request message with a temporary identifier, creating a unique identification for the electronic device based on the hashing, replacing, by the advertisement gateway, the identifying information in the request message with the unique identification, sending, by the advertisement gateway, the request message comprising the unique identification to an advertisement provider server, receiving, at the advertisement gateway, an advertisement based on the request message comprising the unique identification, and sending, from the advertisement gateway, the advertisement to the electronic device.