Secure Virtual Personalized Network Privacy Control
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Users face challenges in maintaining privacy and controlling access to their information on social networks, as these platforms often use shared data for revenue generation, leading to a conflict between individual privacy desires and the platforms' monetization strategies.
Innovation Solution
A secure, virtual personalized network (SVPN) is established, allowing users to create a secure communication environment with master and guest privileges, using encryption keys that are stored on user devices and not accessible by the provider, enabling controlled information exchange and protection from third-party access.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If social networks allow users to exchange information with large groups of people, then ease of access and information dissemination are improved, but user privacy and control over published information deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the network into multiple isolated virtual networks, each controlled by a specific user. This segmentation allows users to maintain privacy within their own virtual network while still enabling easy information exchange with authorized participants, resolving the contradiction between accessibility and privacy control.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary mechanism where users create and control their own virtual networks that mediate between them and the broader internet. This intermediary layer enables easy access to contacts while preventing unauthorized access to personal information by third parties, including the social network provider itself.
2Productivity
If social networks sell published information to third parties and analyze it for advertising, then revenue generation is improved, but user privacy and trust deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts personal information from the public domain by confining it within encrypted virtual networks. Users retain control over their published information, preventing third parties and network providers from accessing or analyzing it for advertising purposes, thus maintaining trust while potentially enabling alternative revenue models.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of the network provider controlling and monetizing user data, the inversion gives control to users themselves through virtual network ownership. Users can choose who accesses their information and under what terms, fundamentally reversing the traditional power dynamic and rebuilding trust.
3Ease of operation
If privacy settings are provided to control information access, then user privacy control is improved, but the settings fail to restrict how providers use published information
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a nested structure where virtual networks are contained within the broader social network infrastructure. Each virtual network is an encrypted container that nests user information, providing layers of protection. This nested architecture enables true privacy control by ensuring that even the network provider cannot access information within user-controlled virtual networks.
4Reliability
If a secure virtual personalized network is established with encryption keys stored on user devices, then user privacy and security are improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements self-service through automated virtual network creation and management. Users automatically receive encryption keys and virtual network credentials without manual configuration, and the system handles key distribution and network establishment autonomously. This self-service approach maintains high security while reducing the perceived complexity for users.
Data Source
AI summary
A computer provides a secure, virtual personalized network (SVPN) for a first user with master privileges and at least a second user with guest privileges in the SVPN. Notably, the computer may execute a virtual machine that provides a container for the SVPN of the first user, and the first electronic device associated with the first user and a second electronic device associated with the second user may execute instances of an application that facilitates secure communication in the SVPN. Moreover, the first electronic device may store a set of first encryption keys and the second electronic device may store a set of second encryption keys, which allow the first electronic device and the second electronic device to securely communicate with each other via the SVPN. Note that the computer may not be able to access the set of first encryption keys or the set of second encryption keys.