Synthetic PII Generation for Privacy Protection

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Solution Overview

Problem

Users face privacy risks when providing personally identifiable information (PII) online, as existing methods to protect privacy, such as using fictitious information, are often detected by service providers and may not effectively maintain user anonymity.

Innovation Solution

A system generates highly realistic synthetic PII using machine learning models, which can be automatically used in web forms, and maintains these identifiers across devices and evolving detection mechanisms, incorporating an auto-fake plugin and machine learning models to create and update synthetic IDs.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If users provide fictitious information to protect privacy, then privacy protection is improved, but service providers can detect the fictitious information and reject the form

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveprivacy protection effectivenessVSAvoiddetection of fictitious information

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The system generates synthetic PII that copies the statistical properties and patterns of real PII data through machine learning models trained on large datasets. This allows the fake data to pass detection mechanisms while still protecting real user information

Inventive Principle:

Principle #26Copying

Solution Approach 2:

The synthetic PII generation system changes the parameters of the data by transforming real PII into statistically similar but fundamentally different synthetic data through machine learning transformations, making it indistinguishable from real data to detection algorithms

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

2Reliability

If users create fake user IDs and fake PII, then privacy protection is improved, but users have difficulty remembering the fake credentials

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveprivacy protectionVSAvoiduser memory burden

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The system automatically generates and manages synthetic PII credentials for users without requiring manual creation or memorization. The service itself handles the complexity of generating realistic fake data while maintaining user-friendly interaction

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

3Ease of operation

If users provide real PII to receive services, then service access is improved, but user privacy is compromised and data can be leaked

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveservice accessVSAvoiddata leakage risk

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The synthetic PII acts as an intermediary layer between the user and the service provider. It allows service access to proceed smoothly while preventing exposure of real user data, as the synthetic data can be freely shared without compromising actual user privacy

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Data Source

PatentUS12008140B2Privacy personas using synthetic personally identifiable information

Publication Date: 2024.06.11 GEN DIGITAL INC

AI summary

Systems and methods receive a form having one or more fields for receiving personally identifying information (PII). Input data that includes PII is received for the form. The system and methods model the characteristics of true PII to generate a model associated with the form. Synthetic PII is generated based, at least in part, the true PII and the model. The synthetic PII is provided to the one or more fields of the form.