Protecting privacy of shared personal information

摘要

Methods and apparatus are described to protect personal information by decoupling it from user identity. According to specific embodiments, this is accomplished by associating each user with an anonymous token that is decoupled from the user's identity. Personal information (e.g., a user's physical or geographic location) is stored in association with this anonymous token, with no apparent connection to the user. Those allowed to access the personal information—including the owner himself—are granted the ability through a variety of mechanisms to connect the anonymous token back to the owner. The personal information can then be retrieved by locating the data stored in association with the anonymous token in the data store.

主权项

1. A system, comprising:
one or more data stores configured to store first personal information about a first user in association with a first anonymous token decoupled from a first user identifier (ID) corresponding to the first user in the system; one or more computing devices configured to implement:
a data sharing component configured to determine whether a key associated with a second user ID corresponding to a second user unlocks a connection between the first anonymous token and the first user ID such that the second user is allowed to access personal information about the first user, and send the first personal information associated with the first anonymous token to a second user device associated with the second user for display if the key associated with the second user ID corresponding to the second user unlocks the connection between the first anonymous token and the first user ID.