Preventing personal information from being posted to an internet

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9401886-B2
Application number	US-201213483336-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 30, 2012
Priority date	May 30, 2012
Publication date	Jul 26, 2016
Grant date	Jul 26, 2016

Abstract

A method of preventing personal information from being posted to an internet, comprising determining whether text within a post includes a pre-identified text pattern indicative of a first user's personal information, replacing any identified personal information with a number of trackback identifiers, and posting the text to the internet with the post including the number of trackback identifiers. A system for replacing personal information in an interact post with a number of trackback identifiers, the system comprising a processor, a discovery module, and a trackback generation module, in which the discovery module, when executed on the processor, searches through text within a post for any personal information associated with a first user, and in which the trackback generation module, when executed on the processor, replaces any identified personal information with the number of trackback identifiers before the information is posted to the internet.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of preventing personal information from being posted to an internet, comprising:
determining whether text within a post includes a pre-identified text pattern indicative of a first user's personal information;
replacing any identified personal information with a number of trackback identifiers, the trackback identifiers comprising an active link comprising text different from the personal information and wherein the active link, when actuated, submits to a proxy service a request for the identified personal information and prevents attainment of the personal information until permission to provide the personal information is received;
posting the text to the internet with the post including the number of trackback identifiers; and
causing the trackback identifier to expire after a predetermined amount of time from when the trackback identifiers were posted based on settings provided by the first user.

2. The method of claim 1 , in which the method further comprises referencing a list of personal data associated with the first user to determine whether the first user has restricted the personal information from being posted to the internet;
in which, if the first user has indicated that the personal information should not be posted to the internet, the method further comprises replacing any identified personal information with the number of trackback identifiers.

3. The method of claim 1 , in which the personal information is a social security number, a phone number, a uniform resource locator, an internet address, an email address, a physical address, a phone number, an insurance number, or combinations thereof.

4. The method claim 3 , in which, if the personal information is a URL, the URL is replaced with a trackback identifier in the form of a proxy URL.

5. The method of claim 3 , in which, if the personal information is a telephone number, the telephone number is replaced with a trackback identifier in the form of a proxy telephone number and corresponding identification number.

6. The method of claim 5 , in which, if a second user calls the proxy telephone number and enters in the corresponding identification number, the first user is notified that the second user has obtained the proxy telephone number from the post.

7. The method of claim 3 , in which, if the personal information is an email address, the email address is replaced with a trackback identifier in the form of a proxy email address.

8. The method of claim 7 , in which the proxy email address, when selected by a second user, introduces the first user to the second user through a custom email to the first user.

9. The method of claim 1 , in which actuation of a trackback identifier of the number of trackback identifiers by a second user directs the second user to a proxy service.

10. The method of claim 9 , in which the proxy service presents to the first user a choice to allow or disallow the second user from obtaining the personal information.

11. A system for replacing personal information in an internet post on a social networking site with a number of trackback identifiers, the system comprising:
a processor;
a discovery module; and
a trackback generation module;
in which the discovery module, when executed on the processor, searches through text within a post intended to be posted by a first user on the social networking site for any personal information associated with the first user;
in which the discovery module, when executed by the processor, further receives a list of contacts from the first user indicating which contacts are allowed to view the personal information on the social networking site and treats all other non-contact users on the social networking site as users restricted from viewing the personal information;
in which the trackback generation module, when executed on the processor, replaces, for all non-contacts, any identified personal information with the number of trackback identifiers before the information is posted to the social networking site; and
in which the trackback generation module detects a sharing action of the post by a contact to a non-contact and, replaces any identified personal information with the number of trackback identifiers before the information is shared with the non-contact.

12. The system of claim 11 , in which the discovery module compares searched text within the post to a list of personal data associated with the first user to determine whether the first user has restricted the personal information from being posted to the internet;
in which, if the first user has indicated that the personal information should not be posted to the internet, the discovery module replaces any identified personal information with the number of trackback identifiers.

13. The system of claim 12 , in which the personal information is a social security number, a phone number, a uniform resource locator, an internet address, an email address, a physical address, a phone number, an insurance number, or combinations thereof.

14. The system of claim 13 , in which, if the personal information is a URL, the trackback generation module replaces the URL with a trackback identifier in the form of a proxy URL.

15. The system of claim 13 , in which, if the personal information is a telephone number, the trackback generation module replaces the telephone number with a trackback identifier in the form of a proxy telephone number and corresponding identification number.

16. The system of claim 15 , in which, if a second user calls the proxy telephone number and enters in the corresponding identification number, the first user is notified that the second user has obtained the proxy telephone number from the post.

17. The system of claim 13 , in which, if the personal information is an email address, the trackback generation module replaces the email address with a trackback identifier in the form of a proxy email address.

18. The system of claim 17 , in which the proxy email address, when selected by a second user, introduces the first user to the second user through a custom email to the first user.

19. The system of claim 11 , in which selection of a trackback identifier of the number of trackback identifiers by a second user directs the second user to a proxy service in which the first user is given a choice to allow or disallow the second user from obtaining the personal information.

20. A computer program product for preventing personal information from being posted to the internet, the computer program product comprising:
a computer readable storage medium having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code comprising:
computer usable program code to, when executed by a processor, determine whether the text within a post includes a predetermined text pattern indicative of a user's personal information;
computer usable program code to, when executed by a processor, replace any identified personal information with a number of trackback identifiers;
computer usable program code to, when executed by a processor, post the text to the web site with the post including the number of trackback identifiers; and
computer usable program code to, when executed by a processor, cause the trackback identifiers to expire after a predetermined amount of time from the original posting of each trackback identifier; the predetermined amount of time being based on a setting set by the first user;
computer usable program code to, when executed by a processor, select a t

Assignees

• Bastide Paul Roger
• Broomhall Matthew E
• Loredo Robert Edward
• IBM

Inventors

• Bastide Paul Roger
• Broomhall Matthew E
• Loredo Robert Edward

Classifications

• H04L51/32 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L63/102

  Entity profiles · CPC title

• G06F17/30876

  Physics · mapped topic

• H04L63/20

  for managing network security; network security policies in general (filtering policies H04L63/0227) · CPC title

• G06F21/6245 Primary

  Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes · CPC title