Privacy-Preserving Contact Discovery via Obfuscated Matching
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users are uncomfortable with applications accessing and using their personal information from address books without restrictions, leading to denial of access, which impedes social features in applications that rely on this data.
Innovation Solution
A client-server architecture that obfuscates personal information data from address books, using hash values and encryption to match contacts with registered user accounts without revealing the original data, maintaining confidentiality and enabling social features.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If applications are granted unrestricted access to address book data, then social features can be implemented, but user privacy and data security are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a server as an intermediary between the client device and the contact discovery process. The server receives obfuscated contact information from clients, performs matching operations, and returns results without either party accessing the other's raw personal data. This mediator architecture enables social feature functionality while maintaining privacy boundaries through the server's coordinated processing of obfuscated data.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses obfuscated copies of contact information (hashed phone numbers, email addresses) instead of transmitting or storing original personal data. These cryptographic copies preserve the ability to match and identify contacts while ensuring that the actual sensitive information remains localized on user devices and never exposed to the server or other users.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If users deny application access to address book data, then privacy is maintained, but social features cannot function
Solution Approach 1:
The server acts as a mediator that enables contact discovery functionality without requiring direct access to users' address books. By processing obfuscated data through the server, the system provides social features while respecting user privacy choices and maintaining data localization on client devices.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the contact discovery process into separate functional components: local data access on client devices, obfuscation operations, server-based matching, and result aggregation. This segmentation allows the system to provide social features through coordinated operations while keeping sensitive personal information confined to individual user devices.
3Productivity
If personal information data is transmitted for contact matching, then contact discovery is enabled, but data security and confidentiality are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transmits cryptographic copies (obfuscated data) of personal information instead of the original sensitive data. These hashed representations enable contact matching operations to be performed remotely while ensuring that the actual personal information never leaves the user's device, thereby maintaining data security while enabling contact discovery functionality.
Data Source
AI summary
This application relates to a client-server architecture that enables user accounts registered with a service to be discoverable to other users of the service. A discovery protocol includes accessing personal information data stored in an address book of a client device, obfuscating the personal information data, transmitting a request to a service to determine if the obfuscated personal information data matches any potential contacts that have registered as discoverable with the service, and comparing information related to the potential contacts with the contacts included in the address book to determine if the contacts in the address book match any of the potential contacts.