Personal Assistant Privacy Context Assessment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Personal assistant applications often inadvertently disclose confidential information by outputting answers through speakers or publicly viewable display devices, potentially exposing sensitive information to unintended recipients.
Innovation Solution
The technology assesses the privacy context of communications by determining the privacy level of the information and the environment, allowing for the selection of appropriate communication channels and potential modification of content to maintain confidentiality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If personal assistant outputs information through speakers or public displays, then information accessibility is improved, but information privacy is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies different privacy processing to different portions of information based on sensitivity classification. Non-sensitive information is output publicly through speakers or displays, while sensitive information is redacted or omitted, allowing simultaneous public accessibility and privacy protection for different data elements
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs privacy context assessment and information classification before outputting information. By evaluating the environment (public vs. private) and classifying information sensitivity in advance, the system determines appropriate output methods beforehand, preventing privacy breaches while maintaining accessibility
2Object-affected harmful factors
If personal assistant modifies content to protect privacy, then information privacy is improved, but information completeness is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts and removes only the sensitive portions of information while retaining and outputting the non-sensitive portions. For example, it may redact specific sensitive details from a message while preserving the overall context and non-sensitive content, thus protecting privacy without completely sacrificing information completeness
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts the level of information redaction based on the assessed privacy context and information sensitivity. In less sensitive contexts, more information is preserved; in highly sensitive contexts, more redaction is applied, creating a flexible balance between privacy protection and information completeness
3Object-affected harmful factors
If personal assistant assesses privacy context before communication, then information privacy is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The privacy assessment system is divided into separate modular components: environment sensing module, information classification module, privacy context evaluation module, and output determination module. Each component handles a specific aspect of privacy protection, making the overall complex system more manageable and maintainable while effectively protecting information privacy
Data Source
AI summary
Aspects of the technology described herein maintain the privacy of confidential information to be communicated to a user through a computing device. The technology keeps confidential information private by assessing the privacy context of the communication. The privacy context can be determined by determining a privacy level of the information to be communicated and the privacy level of the environment into which the information is to be communicated. The privacy context can be used to select an appropriate communication channel for the information. The privacy context can also be used to determine whether all available content is shared or just a portion of it.