Privacy Proxy Intercepts Tracking Requests

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing methods for blocking website visitor tracking are inadequate as they either fail to prevent persistent tracking or cause issues with website functionality, and there is a need to protect user privacy while allowing tracking to continue without linking user data to specific individuals.

Innovation Solution

A method and apparatus that intercept and analyze network traffic to identify tracking processes, replace user-specific data with random data from a pool or dynamically generated data, ensuring that tracking servers do not receive accurate user information, thereby maintaining privacy without hindering website functionality.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Object-affected harmful factors

If tracking cookies are blocked altogether, then user privacy is protected, but website functionality is compromised

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveuser privacy protectionVSAvoidwebsite functionality

Core Design Contradiction:

Object-affected harmful factorsVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces a proxy server as an intermediary between the user's browser and tracking servers. The proxy server intercepts tracking requests and replaces user-specific data with random data before forwarding requests to websites, while blocking access to actual tracking servers. This mediator approach protects user privacy by preventing direct communication with tracking servers while maintaining website functionality through proxy-mediated requests.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent creates copies of tracking requests with modified data. Instead of blocking all tracking requests, the system generates duplicate requests where user-specific identifiers are replaced with random data copies. These copied requests are then forwarded to websites, allowing functional tracking while protecting actual user identity information.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #26Copying

2Object-affected harmful factors

If random cookie data is sent to tracking servers, then user privacy is protected, but sophisticated tracking servers can detect fake data

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveuser privacy protectionVSAvoidtracking detection accuracy

Core Design Contradiction:

Object-affected harmful factorsVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts user-specific data from tracking requests and removes it before forwarding requests. By taking out the identifying information (cookies, user agents, referer headers) and replacing them with random data, the system prevents tracking servers from accurately identifying users while maintaining the structural integrity of requests.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

Instead of trying to deceive tracking servers with fake data that resembles real data, the patent inverts the approach by using clearly random data that is intentionally distinguishable from real user data. The system accepts that tracking servers will detect the data as fake but relies on the fact that the random data cannot be used to build accurate user profiles.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #13The other way round (Inversion)

3Measurement precision

If persistent tracking methods are used, then accurate user profiles are built, but user privacy is compromised

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvetracking accuracyVSAvoiduser privacy loss

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The patent performs preliminary actions by intercepting and modifying tracking requests before they reach tracking servers. By pre-replacing user-specific data with random data in the proxy server, the system prevents accurate user profiling from occurring in the first place, rather than trying to correct or anonymize data after collection.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentUS10652344B2Method for privacy protection

Publication Date: 2020.05.12 F SECURE CORP

AI summary

There is provided a method for privacy protection including: intercepting at least part of network traffic from a client device; analysing network traffic data of the intercepted network traffic to identify any elements indicative of a website visitor tracking process; analysing the one or more elements indicative of the website visitor tracking process to identify any tracking fields comprising user specific data; selecting random tracking field data accepted by the website visitor tracking process and replacing the user specific data of the one or more tracking fields with the selected random tracking field data respectively.