Using social network data to detect and quantify unauthorized consumption of content

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018285984-A1
Application number	US-201715471477-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 28, 2017
Priority date	Mar 28, 2017
Publication date	Oct 4, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method for utilizing data analytics to identify unauthorized consumption of content comprises obtaining social network activity data from one or more social networks. The obtained social network activity data is analyzed to identify one or more users involved with content associated with a content provider. A determination is made as to whether or not the one or more users are authorized to access the content based at least in part on the analysis.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
obtaining social network activity data from at least one social network; analyzing the obtained social network activity data to identify one or more users involved with content associated with a content provider; and determining whether or not the one or more users are authorized to consume the content based at least in part on the analysis; wherein steps of the method are performed by at least one processing device comprising a processor operatively coupled to a memory.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein obtained social network activity data comprises one or more of public data and private data.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein analyzing the obtained social network activity data comprises performing a natural language processing (NLP) analysis to determine one or more social network interactions referring to the content.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein performing the NLP analysis comprises utilizing one or more of a classifier and a relation extractor.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising creating a graph for the at least one social network, wherein the graph comprises nodes representing users of the at least one social network, and one or more edges representing respective connections between the users.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the determination as to whether or not the one or more users are authorized to consume the content further comprises determining a degree of confidence for a given user based on one or more confidence scores associated with the given user.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein determining the degree of confidence comprises comparing the one or more confidence scores to at least one threshold.

8 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the one or more confidence scores comprise one or more of a score associated with the user profile of the given user mapping to the content provider, a score associated with the analysis on social network activity associated with the given user, a score associated with a closeness of the given user with other users of the social network who can be mapped to the content provider; and a score associated with a confidence that the user can meet these other users in person.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the determination as to whether or not the one or more users are authorized to consume the content comprises:
removing any of the users from one or more users who can be directly mapped to the content provider to generate a first subset of the one or more users; removing any of the users from the first subset who can be indirectly mapped to the content provider to generate a second subset of the one or more users; and removing any of the users from the second subset determined to have likely consumed the content with at least one other user of the social network authorized to consume the content to generate a third subset of the one or more users.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein removing a given user of the first subset comprises determining that contact data associated with the given user of the first subset maps to data associated with the content provider.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the contact data associated with the given user of the first subset is aggregated from multiple social networks.

12 . The method of claim 9 , wherein removing a given user of the second subset comprises one or more of determining that the at least one other user of the social network is associated with the social network activity data associated with the given user, and determining a closeness of the given user to the at least one other user of the social network based on the social network activity data associated with the given user.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein determining the closeness further comprises determining a type of each connection in the graph, wherein the type of connection is personal or professional.

14 . The method of claim 12 , wherein determining the closeness further comprises assigning a weight based upon a strength of connection between the given user and the at least one other user.

15 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising quantifying an amount of unauthorized consumption of the content.

16 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating a prediction model to predict future unauthorized consumption of the content.

17 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising sending a notification to a given user of the one or more users comprising an incentive to obtain authorized access to consume the content from a content provider.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the incentive comprises an offer for the given user to obtain authorized access to the content from the content provider.

19 . An article of manufacture comprising a computer-readable storage medium for storing computer-readable program code which, when executed, causes a computer to perform the steps of:
obtaining social network activity data from at least one social network; analyzing the obtained social network activity data to identify one or more users involved with content associated with a content provider; and determining whether or not the one or more users are authorized to consume the content based at least in part on the analysis.

20 . An apparatus comprising:
at least one processing device comprising a processor operatively coupled to a memory and configured to:
obtain social network activity data from at least one social network;
analyze the obtained social network activity data to identify one or more users involved with content associated with a content provider; and
determine whether or not the one or more users are authorized to consume the content based at least in part on the analysis.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Ayachitula Naga A
• Gajwani Mahesh
• Kundu Ashish
• Malvankar Abhishek

Classifications

• G06Q2220/18

  Licensing · CPC title

• G06F21/10

  Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material (protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16) {; Digital rights management [DRM]} · CPC title

• G06Q30/0207

  Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates · CPC title

• G06F2221/2101

  Auditing as a secondary aspect · CPC title

• G06Q10/40 Primary

  Business processes related to social networking or social networking services · CPC title