Social Networking Security via Browser-Based Content Encryption
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Solution Overview
Problem
Social networking sites pose significant privacy risks to users due to exposure of user data to third-party developers and advertisers, as open APIs enable access control preferences to be circumvented, making user data vulnerable to data mining and other privacy issues.
Innovation Solution
End-users can encode content using a privacy agent before posting, which encrypts data according to a policy and restricts access to a select group, with a browser plugin intercepting and encoding content before upload and decoding it for authorized viewers, ensuring data security and control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If open APIs are introduced to enable third-party integration, then site enhancements and developer access are improved, but user data privacy deteriorates due to exposure to third-party developers and advertisers
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary encryption layer between user data and third-party services. The privacy agent acts as a mediator that encrypts user content before it reaches the server, and only decrypts it for authorized viewers. This allows third-party integration to proceed while maintaining data privacy through the encryption intermediary layer.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the state of user data from plaintext to encrypted form before transmission to third-party services. By transforming the data parameter from readable to unreadable format, the system enables API integration while preventing unauthorized access to user content.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If access control settings are provided to restrict viewing, then user privacy protection is improved, but the system complexity increases due to additional policy management requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service by allowing users to automatically select and apply encryption policies through simple user interface selections. The privacy agent automatically handles the complex encryption and policy enforcement without requiring users to manually configure security settings, thus reducing the perceived complexity while maintaining strong access control.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the access control policy management functionality into the existing browser plugin architecture. By combining policy selection, encryption, and enforcement into a single integrated privacy agent component, the system reduces overall complexity while maintaining comprehensive access control capabilities.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If content is encrypted before posting, then data security and privacy control are improved, but the ease of operation deteriorates due to additional encoding steps
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service by having the privacy agent automatically encrypt content without requiring manual user intervention. Users simply select the encryption option through a UI checkbox, and the system handles all encryption operations automatically, including key management and policy application, thus maintaining ease of operation while improving data security.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary encryption action before content is transmitted to the server. The privacy agent intercepts the content, applies encryption based on selected policies, and only then transmits the encrypted data. This preliminary action ensures data security is established before any potential exposure occurs, without requiring additional steps during subsequent viewing or processing.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods mask data on public networks, such as social networking sites. At a publishing node, the system monitors data input fields in a webpage that are processed by an internet browser. The system intercepts data, such as text, images, and video input at the data input fields, prior to the data being posted online on a public service provider's website. The publishing node controls which users are permitted access to the posted data by defining a policy associated with the data input field. The posted data is transformed or tokenized to ensure that it is inaccessible to a user (or group of users) unless that user/group is granted access to the decoding key under the policy. Data security and data control is provided to a publishing user node. Data that has already been posted may be destroyed, for example, by deleting the decryption key or a token.