Systems and methods for automatically blocking the use of tracking tools

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2026032150-A1
Application number	US-202519348513-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 2, 2025
Priority date	Jul 28, 2020
Publication date	Jan 29, 2026
Grant date	—

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide methods, apparatus, systems, computing devices, computing entities, and/or the like for permitting or blocking tracking tools used through webpages. In particular embodiments, the method involves: scanning a webpage to identify a tracking tool configured for processing personal data; determining a data destination location that is associated with the tracking tool; and generating program code configured to: determine a location associated with a user who is associated with a rendering of the webpage; determine a prohibited data destination location based on the location associated with the user; determine that the data destination location associated with the tracking tool is not the prohibited data destination location; and responsive to the data destination location associated with the tracking tool not being the prohibited data destination location, permit the tracking tool to execute.

First claim

We claim:

1 . A method comprising:
determining, based on user configuration, a prohibited destination for data to be sent; determining that a tracking tool is configured to send the data to the prohibited destination; and in response to determining that the tracking tool is configured to send the data to the prohibited destination, disabling functionality of the tracking tool from executing without entirely disabling the tracking tool from executing.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the functionality of the tracking tool comprises functionality to send the data to the prohibited destination.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the functionality of the tracking tool comprises functionality to process the data prior to sending the data to the prohibited destination.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising scanning, a webpage to identify one or more tracking tools, the one or more tracking tools comprising the tracking tool.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the user configuration comprises a jurisdiction that governs a user and wherein the prohibited destination comprises a computing device outside a boundary of the jurisdiction.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining that the tracking tool is configured to send the data to the prohibited destination comprises:
analyzing the tracking tool to determine a network address for a tracking tool data destination; and perform a reverse network address look-up for the network address to determine that the network address is associated with a prohibited location.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the prohibited location is a location within boundaries of a jurisdictional location.

8 . A method comprising:
identifying a tracking tool within a webpage, the tracking tool being unexecuted; prompting a user to provide consent to use the tracking tool; and preventing the webpage from executing the tracking tool.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein preventing the webpage from executing the tracking tool prevents the tracking tool from being executed until the webpage receives a consent determination.

10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein preventing the webpage from executing the tracking tool is based on receiving a consent determination from the user to withhold consent.

11 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
determining, based on a user location, a prohibited destination for data to be sent; and determining that the tracking tool is configured to send the data to the prohibited destination.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein preventing the webpage from executing the tracking tool is based on determining that the tracking tool is configured to send the data to the prohibited destination.

13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein determining that the tracking tool is configured to send the data to the prohibited destination comprises:
analyzing the tracking tool to determine a network address for a tracking tool data destination; and perform a reverse network address look-up for the network address to determine that the network address is associated with a prohibited location.

14 . A method comprising:
identifying a tracking tool within a webpage, the tracking tool being unexecuted; prompting a user to provide consent to use the tracking tool; and disabling functionality of the tracking tool from executing without entirely disabling the tracking tool from executing.

15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
determining, based on a user location, a prohibited destination for data to be sent; and determining that the tracking tool is configured to send the data to the prohibited destination.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the functionality of the tracking tool comprises functionality to send the data to the prohibited destination.

17 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the functionality of the tracking tool comprises functionality to process the data prior to sending the data to the prohibited destination.

18 . The method of claim 15 , wherein determining that the tracking tool is configured to send the data to the prohibited destination comprises:
analyzing the tracking tool to determine a network address for a tracking tool data destination; and perform a reverse network address look-up for the network address to determine that the network address is associated with a prohibited location.

19 . The method of claim 14 , wherein disabling the functionality of the tracking tool from executing without entirely disabling the tracking tool from executing disables the functionality of the tracking tool until the webpage receives a consent determination.

20 . The method of claim 14 , wherein disabling the functionality of the tracking tool from executing without entirely disabling the tracking tool from executing is based on receiving a consent determination from the user to withhold consent.

Assignees

• Onetrust Llc

Inventors

• Brannon Jonathan Blake
• Whitney Patrick
• Chavva Sharath Chandra
• Baucom Jeffrey

Classifications

• H04L63/1416

  Event detection, e.g. attack signature detection · CPC title

• H04L63/1475 Primary

  Passive attacks, e.g. eavesdropping or listening without modification of the traffic monitored · CPC title

• H04L67/535

  Tracking the activity of the user (network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34) · CPC title

• G06F16/9577

  Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents · CPC title

• H04L63/168

  above the transport layer · CPC title