Automatic shared personal image privacy level detection and management

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9948651-B1
Application number	US-201514968791-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Dec 14, 2015
Priority date	Dec 14, 2015
Publication date	Apr 17, 2018
Grant date	Apr 17, 2018

Abstract

Network traffic is monitored, and activities concerning posting images to sharing sites are detected. Detected activities can be attempts to login to sharing sites, or attempts to post images. Privacy concerns associated with sharing images on target sites are identified. In the case of detecting a successful attempt to login to a known sharing site, the site is scanned for the privacy settings in effect for the user, and it is determined whether the settings are below a given threshold. Another example of a privacy concern is detecting an attempt to post an image to an unknown site. When a privacy concern is detected, the user is warned, and prompted to indicate whether images are to be posted to the target site anyway. Attempts to post images to sites that are subject to privacy concerns are processed according to received user directives (e.g., blocked or allowed).

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer implemented method for automatically managing privacy of shared images posted by a user of a computer to remote sharing sites, the method comprising:
monitoring network traffic and detecting network traffic activities concerning posting images to remote sharing sites, by the computer;
transmitting telemetry data concerning a user interaction with a specific target sharing site to a centralized computing device, by the computer;
receiving a specific privacy threshold based on the transmitted telemetry data for the specific target sharing site;
identifying a privacy concern associated with sharing images on the specific target sharing site based on the specific privacy threshold, by the computer;
warning the user regarding the privacy concern associated with sharing images on the specific target sharing site, by the computer, wherein warning the user regarding the privacy concern associated with sharing images on the specific target sharing site further comprises warning the user concerning a privacy setting in effect on the specific target sharing, wherein the user is successfully logged on to the specific target sharing site;
prompting the user to indicate whether images are to be posted to the specific target sharing site despite the warning, by the computer; and
processing attempts to post images to the specific target sharing site according to a directive received from the user in response to the prompting, by the computer.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein monitoring network traffic and detecting network traffic activities concerning posting images to remote sharing sites further comprises:
detecting an attempt to login to a sharing site.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein monitoring network traffic and detecting network traffic activities concerning posting images to remote sharing sites further comprises:
detecting an attempt to post an image to a sharing site.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein monitoring network traffic and detecting network traffic activities concerning posting images to remote sharing sites further comprises:
hooking a browser on the computer and monitoring activities performed by the browser.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein monitoring network traffic and detecting network traffic activities concerning posting images to remote sharing sites further comprises:
intercepting a network protocol stack at a specific level.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein warning the user regarding the privacy concern associated with sharing images on the specific target sharing site further comprises:
outputting a privacy alert to the user documenting the privacy concern associated with sharing images on the specific target sharing site.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein prompting the user to indicate whether images are to be posted to the specific target sharing site despite the warning further comprises: prompting the user to indicate whether images are to be posted to the specific target sharing site despite current privacy settings in effect for the user on the specific target sharing site.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein processing attempts to post images to the specific target sharing site according to the directive received from the user in response to the prompting further comprises:
blocking attempts to post images to the specific target sharing site.

9. The method of claim 1 processing attempts to post images to the specific target sharing site according to the directive received from the user in response to the prompting further comprises:
allowing attempts to post images to the specific target sharing site to proceed, in response to receiving an indication from the user to do so.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
maintaining site information concerning currently known sharing sites.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
prompting the user to indicate approval for the computer to update privacy settings for a specific sharing site automatically; and
in response to receiving a corresponding indication from the user, interacting with the specific sharing site to update the privacy settings in effect for the user, by the computer.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
maintaining telemetry data concerning user interaction with a plurality of sharing sites.

13. At least one non-transitory computer readable medium for automatically managing privacy of shared images posted by a user of a computer to remote sharing sites, the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer executable instructions that, when loaded into computer memory and executed by at least one processor of at least one computing device, cause the at least one computing device to perform the following steps:
monitoring network traffic and detecting network traffic and detecting network traffic activities concerning posting images to remote sharing sites;
transmitting telemetry data concerning a user interaction with a specific target sharing site to a centralized computing device;
receiving a specific privacy threshold based on the transmitted telemetry data for the unknown site;
identifying a privacy concern associated with sharing images on the specific target sharing site the unknown site based on the specific privacy threshold;
warning the user regarding the privacy concern associated with sharing images on the specific target sharing site, wherein warning the user regarding the privacy concern associated with sharing images on the specific target sharing site further comprises warning the user concerning a privacy setting in effect on the specific target sharing, wherein the user is successfully logged on to the specific target sharing site;
prompting the user to indicate whether images are to be posted to the specific target sharing site despite the warning; and
processing attempts to post images to the specific target sharing site according to a directive received from the user in response to the prompting.

14. A computer system for automatically managing privacy of shared images posted by a user to remote sharing sites, the computer system comprising:
a processor;
system memory;
instructions in the system memory programmed to monitor network traffic and detect and detect network traffic activities concerning posting images to remote sharing sites;
instructions in the system memory programmed to transmit telemetry data concerning a user interaction with a specific target sharing site to a centralized computing device, and receive a specific privacy threshold based on the transmitted telemetry data for the unknown site;
instructions in the system memory programmed to identify a privacy concern associated with sharing images on the specific target sharing site based on the specific privacy threshold;
instructions in the system memory programmed to warn the user regarding the privacy concern associated with sharing images on the specific target sharing site, wherein warning the user regarding the privacy concern associated with sharing images on the specific target sharing site further comprises warning the user concerning a privacy setting in effect on the specific target sharing, wherein the user is successfully logged on to the specific target sharing site;
instructions in the system memory programmed to prompt the user to indicate whether images are to be posted to the specific target sharing site despite the warning; and
instructions in the system memory programmed to process attempts to post images to the specific target sharing site according to a directive received from the user in response to the prompting.

Assignees

• Symantec Corp

Inventors

• Shavell Michael
• Boucher Matthew

Classifications

• H04L63/10 Primary

  for controlling access to devices or network resources · CPC title

• H04L67/22

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L63/0407 Primary

  wherein the identity of one or more communicating identities is hidden (cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for anonymous credentials or for identity based cryptographic systems H04L9/00) · CPC title

• H04L67/535 Primary

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

• H04W4/21

  for social networking applications · CPC title