Selective regulation of information transmission from mobile applications to third-party privacy compliant target systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11159573-B1
Application number	US-202016798781-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Feb 24, 2020
Priority date	May 22, 2013
Publication date	Oct 26, 2021
Grant date	Oct 26, 2021

Abstract

Selective regulation of information transmission from mobile applications to an external system. A privacy policy is configured for and mapped to each of a multiplicity of mobile application concerns, with each privacy policy comprising rules regulating the transmission of information to an external system. Instrumentation instructions can be integrated with a mobile application or mobile operating system. The instrumentation instructions direct the mobile device to submit a privacy policy request comprising an identifier from the mobile device to a third-party privacy compliance system and enable sending information from the mobile device to the external system, subject to the privacy policy. The privacy policy request is received at the third-party privacy compliance system which selects the privacy policy based on an identifier and sends the privacy policy to the mobile device for implementation.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A method comprising:
receiving instrumentation instructions for operation by a mobile device, wherein the instrumentation instructions comprise instructions for:
requesting a compliance system-configured privacy policy from a third-party compliance system, the request comprising an identifier of a cohort representing a plurality of mobile devices including the mobile device;
receiving the compliance system-configured privacy policy from the third-party compliance system, the compliance system-configured privacy policy comprising a rule for regulating transmission of information from the mobile device to an external system wherein the compliance system-configured privacy policy is configured according to the identifier;
transforming information at the mobile device according to the compliance system-configured privacy policy; and
sending the transformed information to the external system.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the external system is the third-party compliance system.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the external system is a third-party privacy compliant target system.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein transforming information according to the compliance system-configured privacy policy comprises selecting a general location description generated by pre-processing precise geolocation information.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein transforming information according to the compliance system-configured privacy policy comprises mapping an exact value to a range of values.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein transforming information according to the valid compliance system-configured privacy policy comprises hashing a first unique value to generate a second unique value such that the first unique value is not re-identifiable by the external system from the second unique value.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the rule for regulating transmission of information from the mobile device to external system comprises a list indicating types of data which may not be transmitted to the external system.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing processor-executable computer program instructions that, when executed, cause a computer processor to perform a method, the method comprising:
receiving instrumentation instructions for operation by a mobile device, wherein the instrumentation instructions comprise instructions for:
requesting a compliance system-configured privacy policy from a third-party compliance system, the request comprising an identifier of a cohort representing a plurality of mobile devices including the mobile device;
receiving the compliance system-configured privacy policy from the third-party compliance system, the compliance system-configured privacy policy comprising a rule for regulating transmission of information from the mobile device to an external system wherein the compliance system-configured privacy policy is configured according to the identifier;
transforming information at the mobile device according to the compliance system-configured privacy policy; and
sending the transformed information to the external system.

9. The medium of claim 8 , wherein the external system is the third-party compliance system.

10. The medium of claim 8 , wherein the external system is a third-party privacy compliant target system.

11. The medium of claim 8 , wherein transforming information according to the compliance system-configured privacy policy comprises selecting a general location description generated by pre-processing precise geolocation information.

12. The medium of claim 8 , wherein transforming information according to the compliance system-configured privacy policy comprises mapping an exact value to a range of values.

13. The medium of claim 8 , wherein transforming information according to the valid compliance system-configured privacy policy comprises hashing a first unique value to generate a second unique value such that the first unique value is not re-identifiable by the external system from the second unique value.

14. The medium of claim 8 , wherein the rule for regulating transmission of information from the mobile device to external system comprises a list indicating types of data which may not be transmitted to the external system.

15. A system comprising:
a processor; and
a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing processor-executable computer program instructions that, when executed, cause a computer processor to perform a method, the method comprising:
receiving instrumentation instructions for operation by a mobile device, wherein the instrumentation instructions comprise instructions for:
requesting a compliance system-configured privacy policy from a third-party compliance system, the request comprising an identifier of a cohort representing a plurality of mobile devices including the mobile device;
receiving the compliance system-configured privacy policy from the third-party compliance system, the compliance system-configured privacy policy comprising a rule for regulating transmission of information from the mobile device to an external system wherein the compliance system-configured privacy policy is configured according to the identifier;
transforming information at the mobile device according to the compliance system-configured privacy policy; and
sending the transformed information to the external system.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the external system is the third-party compliance system.

17. The system of claim 15 , wherein the external system is a third-party privacy compliant target system.

18. The system of claim 15 , wherein transforming information according to the compliance system-configured privacy policy comprises selecting a general location description generated by pre-processing precise geolocation information.

19. The system of claim 15 , wherein transforming information according to the compliance system-configured privacy policy comprises mapping an exact value to a range of values.

20. The system of claim 15 , wherein transforming information according to the valid compliance system-configured privacy policy comprises hashing a first unique value to generate a second unique value such that the first unique value is not re-identifiable by the external system from the second unique value.

21. The system of claim 15 , wherein the rule for regulating transmission of information from the mobile device to external system comprises a list indicating types of data which may not be transmitted to the external system.

Assignees

• Quantcast Corp

Inventors

• Flowerday Crispin Edward Harold
• Kamprath Michael F
• Sareshwala Faraaz Aejaz
• Vogel Fernandez De Castro Daniel

Classifications

• H04L67/53

  using third party service providers · CPC title

• H04W12/30 Primary

  Security of mobile devices; Security of mobile applications · CPC title

• G06F21/629

  to features or functions of an application · CPC title

• H04W4/60

  Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits · CPC title

• H04W12/02

  Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII] · CPC title