Privacy Agent Encoding for Secure Social Content Sharing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Social networking sites pose significant privacy risks to users as they expose user data to third-party developers and advertisers, and existing access control settings can be circumvented, making user data vulnerable to data mining and privacy issues.
Innovation Solution
End-users can encode content using a privacy agent before posting, which encrypts the content with a policy server and decrypts it for authorized viewers, using a third-party key server to control access and maintain privacy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If end-users post content on public online services, then content accessibility and sharing are improved, but privacy protection and data control deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies preliminary action by encrypting content before it is posted to the public online service. The privacy agent intercepts the content, applies encryption using asymmetric cryptography, and only then transmits it to the server. This ensures that even though the content is publicly accessible, it remains protected until the intended recipient decrypts it using their private key.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a privacy agent as an intermediary between the end-user and the public online service. This agent operates in the user's browser and handles the encryption/decryption process automatically, mediating between the desire for public accessibility and the need for private protection. The privacy agent acts as a trusted third party that enables secure content sharing without requiring server-side encryption.
2Reliability
If access control settings are implemented, then data protection is improved, but system complexity and implementation difficulty worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements self-service by placing the encryption and decryption functionality directly in the end-user's browser through a privacy agent. Users can individually control which content they encrypt and who can access it, without requiring complex server-side infrastructure or configuration. The privacy agent automatically handles the cryptographic operations, making the system simple to implement while maintaining strong data protection.
3Reliability
If content is encrypted before posting, then privacy protection is improved, but content accessibility and decoding capability worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies feedback by having the privacy agent automatically detect when content should be decrypted and provide the decrypted version to the intended recipient. When a user views encrypted content, the system checks their authorization status and automatically decrypts the content if permitted, providing feedback to the user in an understandable format. This seamless operation maintains ease of use while preserving privacy protection.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods may be provided for masking data on public networks, such as social networking sites. At a publishing node, the system may monitor data input fields in a webpage, and intercept and encode content, such as text, images, and video input at the data input fields, prior to the content being posted online on a public service provider's website. A privacy agent may process input field content to try to detect encoding markers in the input field content, which define portions of the content that are to be encoded. A third party key server may be used to store decoding keys. A URI reference to the decoding key may be used to access the decoding key by a node attempting to view the decoded version of the input field content.