Telemetry Data Privacy Mitigation via Client-Side Warning Indications

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Solution Overview

Problem

Software developers face challenges in identifying and mitigating the inadvertent collection of user information in telemetry data, which can be privacy concerns and security issues, due to its difficulty in detection and variability across users and devices.

Innovation Solution

Implementing a system where user information is evaluated at a client device before telemetry data transmission, generating a warning indication for identified user information, which includes diagnostic information to help resolve the issue, and using this indication to prevent future data collection or censor existing data at both the client and server sides.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If telemetry data is collected and transmitted to servers for software evaluation, then software developers can identify unintended behavior and evaluate feature usage, but user information may be inadvertently included in the telemetry data creating privacy concerns

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvesoftware evaluation accuracyVSAvoidprivacy concerns

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary evaluation of telemetry data at the client device before transmission to identify and flag user information. This preliminary action prevents user information from being transmitted to the server, thereby resolving the privacy concern while maintaining software evaluation capabilities through the warning indication mechanism.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The warning indication serves as an intermediary mechanism between telemetry data collection and server transmission. It provides diagnostic information about potential user information without transmitting the actual user information to the server, thus mediating between software evaluation needs and privacy protection.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Object-affected harmful factors

If server-side data censorship is implemented to remove user information from telemetry data, then privacy concerns can be addressed, but scalability issues arise due to the variability of user information across users and devices

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveprivacy concernsVSAvoidsystem scalability

Core Design Contradiction:

Object-affected harmful factorsVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The client device performs self-service by evaluating its own telemetry data for user information before transmission. This shifts the responsibility of privacy protection from the server to the client, enabling each device to autonomously identify and prevent transmission of its own user information without requiring complex server-side censorship infrastructure.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

Solution Approach 2:

The system applies local quality control by evaluating telemetry data individually at each client device based on that specific device's user information. This localized approach accommodates the variability of user information across different users and devices without requiring a one-size-fits-all server-side censorship solution, thereby maintaining scalability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

3Object-affected harmful factors

If comprehensive user information evaluation is performed at the client device before transmission, then user information can be identified and mitigated, but additional processing time and computational resources are required

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveuser information identificationVSAvoiddata processing time

Core Design Contradiction:

Object-affected harmful factorsVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs partial evaluation by focusing only on identifying potential user information in telemetry data rather than processing or analyzing all telemetry data comprehensively. The evaluation generates a warning indication with diagnostic information sufficient to identify the issue without requiring full analysis, thus reducing processing time while still achieving user information identification.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #16Partial or excessive action

Data Source

PatentUS11373003B2Mitigating inadvertent user information collection in telemetry data

Publication Date: 2022.06.28 MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING LLC

AI summary

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to techniques for mitigating inadvertent user information collection in telemetry data. In examples, user information is used to evaluate telemetry data associated prior to transmission to a server device. If an instance of user information is identified within the telemetry data, a warning indication is generated. The warning indication may be transmitted to the server device either instead of or in combination with the telemetry data. As a result of the warning indication, the software may be modified to resolve the issue that caused the introduction of the user information into the telemetry data, thereby avoiding future instances of inadvertent data collection. In response to the warning indication, the server may be configured to reject similar telemetry data from other devices, thereby avoiding collecting such data from the other devices. The server device may also use the warning indication to remove or otherwise censor previously collected user information from stored telemetry data.