Hashed Identifier Data Transmission for Privacy Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems fail to effectively transmit data without personally identifiable information, posing risks to individual privacy and compliance with privacy laws.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that create one-way hashed unique identifiers from subscriber names and addresses, allowing association of viewing behaviors without exposing personally identifiable information, enabling secure data aggregation and analysis for marketers while maintaining privacy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If personally identifiable information is transmitted for data matching and analysis, then data accuracy and marketing insights are improved, but individual privacy protection deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and removes personally identifiable information from the data transmission process. Instead of transmitting names, addresses, and other PII to third-party data providers, the system uses only hashed identifiers that cannot be reversed to reveal original personal information. This extraction of harmful elements allows data matching to proceed while protecting individual privacy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a cryptographic hash function as an intermediary between personally identifiable information and data analysis processes. The hash function transforms PII into irreversible identifiers that serve as mediators - they enable data matching and analysis while acting as a barrier that prevents recovery of original personal information, thus protecting privacy.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If personally identifiable information is removed from transmitted data, then privacy protection is improved, but data matching capability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a cryptographic copy or representation of personally identifiable information through hashing. Instead of using the original PII for matching, the system uses hashed versions that preserve the ability to match records across different datasets while eliminating the risks associated with transmitting actual personal information. The hash acts as a functional copy that maintains matching capability without containing sensitive data.
3Reliability
If one-way hashed identifiers are used instead of personally identifiable information, then security and privacy are improved, but data processing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs the cryptographic hashing operation in advance, before data transmission or analysis occurs. By pre-processing personal information into hashed identifiers and storing these hashes for future matching operations, the system eliminates the need to perform complex cryptographic operations during real-time data processing. This preliminary action reduces computational complexity during subsequent data matching and analysis operations.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for generating and transmitting data without personally identifiable information. The method may include receiving a set of one or more unique identifiers (IDs) and a first set of data associated with a subscriber. The method may send the IDs to a third party provider of datasets. The method may receive a second set of data associated with the subscriber identified using the unique IDs. The method may generate aggregated viewing data based on the first and second sets of data. The set of unique IDs may be based on a one-way hash of personally identifiable information associated with the subscriber. In this way, the unique IDs may be appended with the data from third party providers so additional information regarding the household is available to clients, but the personally identifiable information is unavailable to any of the parties.