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

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9979752-B1
Application number	US-201615392891-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Dec 28, 2016
Priority date	May 22, 2013
Publication date	May 22, 2018
Grant date	May 22, 2018

Abstract

Selective regulation of information transmission from mobile applications to a third-party privacy compliant target 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 a third-party privacy compliant target system. Instrumentation instructions can be integrated with a mobile application and provided to a mobile device. The instrumentation instructions direct the mobile application to submit a privacy policy request comprising a mobile application identifier from the mobile device to a third-party privacy compliance system and enable sending information from the mobile device to the third-party privacy compliant target 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 application identifier and sends the privacy policy to the mobile device for implementation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
providing instrumentation instructions for integration with a mobile application and operation by a mobile device, wherein the instrumentation instructions comprise instructions for:
detecting an absence of a valid privacy policy;
responsive to detecting the absence of the valid privacy policy at the mobile device, requesting a privacy policy from a third-party privacy compliance system by the mobile device, the request comprising a respective identifier of a software installation cohort representing a plurality of mobile devices including the mobile device;
receiving the privacy policy from the third-party privacy compliance system, the privacy policy mapped to the identifier of the software installation cohort of the mobile application, the privacy policy comprising a rule for regulating transmission of information from the mobile device to a partner system;
identifying information in compliance with the received privacy policy; and
sending the identified information to the partner system; and

responsive to receiving the request from the mobile device, selecting the privacy policy according to the identifier of the software installation cohort; and
sending the selected privacy policy to the mobile device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the instrumentation instructions further comprise instructions for:
implementing a default privacy policy for regulating transmission of information to the partner system, at the mobile device, for use in the absence of a valid privacy policy at the mobile device.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the instrumentation instructions further comprise instructions for:
invalidating the privacy policy, after an end of a use session.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
associating a respective privacy policy with a respective identifier of a software installation cohort.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the instrumentation instructions further comprise:
sending the identified information to the third-party compliance system.

6. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium executing computer program instructions, the computer program instructions comprising instructions for:
providing instrumentation instructions for integration with a mobile application and operation by a mobile device, wherein the instrumentation instructions comprise instructions for:
detecting an absence of a valid privacy policy;
responsive to detecting the absence of the valid privacy policy at the mobile device, requesting a privacy policy from a third-party privacy compliance system by the mobile device, the request comprising a respective identifier of a software installation cohort representing a plurality of mobile devices including the mobile device;
receiving the privacy policy from the third-party privacy compliance system, the privacy policy mapped to the identifier of the software installation cohort of the mobile application, the privacy policy comprising a rule for regulating transmission of information from the mobile device to the partner system;
identifying information in compliance with the received privacy policy; and

sending the identified information to the partner system; and
responsive to receiving the request from the mobile device, selecting the privacy policy according to the identifier of the software installation cohort; and
sending the selected privacy policy to the mobile device.

7. The medium of claim 6 , wherein the instrumentation instructions further comprise instructions for:
implementing a default privacy policy for regulating transmission of information to the partner system, at the mobile device, for use in the absence of a valid privacy policy at the mobile device.

8. The medium of claim 6 , wherein the instrumentation instructions further comprise instructions for:
invalidating the privacy policy, after an end of a use session.

9. The medium of claim 6 , the computer program instructions further comprising instructions for:
associating a respective privacy policy with a respective identifier of a software installation cohort.

10. The medium of claim 6 wherein the instrumentation instructions further comprise:
sending the identified information to the third-party compliance system.

11. A system comprising:
a processor;
a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing processor-executable computer program instructions, the instructions comprising instructions for:
providing instrumentation instructions for integration with an operating system and operation by the mobile device, wherein the instrumentation instructions comprise instructions for:
detecting an absence of a valid privacy policy;
responsive to detecting the absence of the valid privacy policy at the mobile device, requesting a privacy policy from a third-party privacy compliance system by the mobile device, the request comprising a respective identifier of a software installation cohort representing a plurality of mobile devices including the mobile device;
receiving the privacy policy from the third-party privacy compliance system, the privacy policy mapped to the identifier of the software installation cohort of the mobile application, the privacy policy comprising a rule for regulating transmission of information from the mobile device to a partner system;
identifying information in compliance with the received privacy policy; and
sending the identified information to the partner system; and

responsive to receiving the request from the mobile device, selecting the privacy policy according to the identifier of the software installation cohort; and
sending the selected privacy policy to the mobile device.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the instrumentation instructions further comprise instructions for:
implementing a default privacy policy for regulating transmission of information to the partner system, at the mobile device, for use in the absence of a valid privacy policy at the mobile device.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the instrumentation instructions further comprise instructions for:
invalidating the privacy policy, after an end of a use session.

14. The system of claim 11 , the computer program instructions further comprising instructions for:
associating a respective privacy policy with a respective identifier of a software installation cohort.

15. The system of claim 11 wherein the instrumentation instructions further comprise:
sending the identified information to the third-party compliance system.

Assignees

• Quantcast Corp

Inventors

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

Classifications

• H04L63/20 Primary

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

• G06F21/6245

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

• H04W12/02

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

• G06F21/62

  Protecting access to data via a platform, e.g. using keys or access control rules · CPC title

• H04L63/0407

  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