Temporal Presence Notification Control for Privacy Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing instant messaging and cellular telephone systems lack efficient mechanisms for controlling the dissemination of users' presence and geographic location information based on temporal conditions, leading to unmanaged sharing and privacy issues.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a system that allows users to set notification settings identifying specific temporal periods for sharing or withholding presence and geographic location information, with granular control over the level of detail shared and integration with participant lists and delegation models to manage access.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If presence and geographic location information is shared freely in instant messaging systems, then communication availability and connectivity are improved, but user privacy and security are worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements dynamic notification settings that allow users to change their presence and location information sharing preferences in real-time. Users can set different notification policies for different time periods, contact groups, or events, enabling the system to adapt information sharing behavior dynamically based on user needs and context, thus balancing communication availability with privacy protection
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies different notification policies to different recipients or groups of recipients based on user-defined criteria. Instead of a uniform sharing approach, users can specify that location information is shared with family members but not with acquaintances, or that notifications are sent during business hours but not during personal time, creating localized quality of information sharing
2Object-affected harmful factors
If temporal control over notification information is implemented, then user privacy management is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The notification control mechanism is segmented into manageable components: temporal conditions (time-based rules), contact-based conditions (person-specific rules), and notification types (presence, location, status). Users can configure and manage these segments independently, making the overall complex system easier to understand and control through modular rule sets
3Object-affected harmful factors
If granular control over geographic location sharing is provided, then user privacy control is improved, but information management complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Geographic location information is segmented into multiple granularity levels (e.g., precise address, city, region, country), and users can selectively share different levels of detail with different contact groups. This segmentation allows fine-grained privacy control without requiring users to manage complex location data structures, as the system handles the granularity management automatically
Data Source
AI summary
A user of an instant messaging system may store names of other users of the instant messaging system on a participant list (which may be referred to as a “buddy list”), and the names may be categorized into one or more groups. Similarly, a user of a mobile device, such as a mobile telephone, may store contact information about people on the mobile device. Information describing the on-line presence of the user within the instant messaging system or the geographic location of a mobile device, such as a mobile telephone associated with the user, may be disseminated to users on the participant list or to people on the contact list based on notification information that is associated with groups of users or contacts.