Privacy management across multiple devices

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer-readable storage medium, and including a method for managing privacy rights of a user related to the delivery of content. The method comprises providing a global privacy management interface that presents a selection tool for enabling a user to review privacy options and interests. The privacy options and interests include controls for presenting a list of identifiers that are associated with the user and interests associated with those identifiers. Each identifier is associated with a requesting source having been used by the user to access content. The interface enables de-selection of individual interests on a per-identifier or global basis. The method further comprises determining, in a server system, content to deliver to the user in view of the privacy selections.

1 . A computer-implemented method for managing privacy rights of a user related to the delivery of content, the method comprising:
 providing a global privacy management interface that:
 presents a selection tool for enabling a user to review privacy options and interests, the privacy options and interests including controls for presenting a list of inferred interests that are associated with the user and an indicator for one or more devices having been used by the user to access content or perform actions that gave rise to the inferred interests; and 
 enables de-selection of individual interests on a per-device or global basis; and 
   determining, in a server system, content to deliver to the user in view of the privacy options and inferred interests.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 providing a single content item privacy management interface that enables a user to manage privacy settings for a given session and related to one or more particular content items that are presented to the user; and 
 wherein determining content to deliver to the user further includes determining content to deliver to the user in view of the privacy settings. 
 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 creating a global privacy policy for a given user, the global privacy policy including a mapping of a plurality of cookies associated with the user, each cookie associated with a requesting source having been used by the user to access content; 
 wherein each cookie includes session information and any enumerated preferences of the user, either inferred or explicitly defined, the preferences being used to determine content to be delivered to the user in response to received requests from the user; and 
 wherein creating a global privacy policy includes aggregating privacy policy information from each cookie in the plurality of cookies to form the global privacy policy. 
 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the privacy options and interests include individual categories of content that are associated with the user based on past user behavior, each category being associated with, and being presented along with a designator for a requesting source that is associated with an explicitly received or inferred interest and wherein the global privacy management interface further includes controls to approve or disapprove any of the categories. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the controls further include a control to opt in or opt out of any category or the use of any information associated with a category. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the controls further include controls for adding additional categories to be used in the selection of content to be delivered to the user. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the serving system serves advertisements to the user based on the privacy options and interests. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 receiving, from a user, a selection of a privacy selection in association with a given session; 
 storing the privacy selection in association with a global policy for the user; and 
 presenting, to the user, all privacy selections received in various sessions with the user that are in effect in determining content to be delivered to the user by the serving system. 
 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 resolving a name for a requesting source associated with an identifier; and 
 presenting the name when presenting privacy selections associated with a given cookie. 
 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 presenting a control to enable a user to un-link individual interests in a user's account, thereby allowing the user to isolate interests on a per requesting source or group of requesting sources basis. 
 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9  wherein the identifiers are linked using a Diffie-Hellman key protocol. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the identifiers are linked using a secret key derived from a seed that is unique to the user. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1  wherein inferred interests are derived using cookies from different devices, different browsers or different applications. 
     
     
         14 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
 providing a content item to a user responsive to a request for content, the content item selected at least in part based on information about inferred interests associated with the user and an indicator for one or more devices having been used by the user to access content or perform actions that gave rise to the inferred interest, the one or more devices linked anonymously without storing personally identifiable information;   providing a control for manipulation by a user to reveal information about how a selection of a content item was performed;   receiving a selection of the control; and   providing to the user responsive to the selection information about how the content item was selected including preference information used to determine the selection that was inferred about or explicitly received from the user, the information including an identification of the one or more devices.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14  further comprising responsive to the received selection presenting an indicator associated with a device that is associated with the preference information. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 14  further comprising presenting a control for linking to a preference manager, the preference manager enabling the user to change preferences associated with the user that are used by a serving system when selecting content items for delivery to the user. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16  wherein the preference manager is a global preference manager that manages preferences of a user associated with plural different devices. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 16  wherein each device is associated with a unique identifier that is mapped to the user. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 17  wherein the preference manager includes a list of linked devices that are used by a serving system to determine content items to deliver to the user. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19  further comprising presenting a control to enable a user to un-link individual interests in a user's account, thereby allowing the user to isolate interests on a per requesting source or group of requesting sources basis. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 19  wherein the identifiers are linked using a Diffie-Hellman key protocol. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21  wherein the identifiers are linked using a secret key derived from a seed that is unique to the user. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 22  wherein the content item is an advertisement. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 14  further comprising:
 providing a control to enable the user to block the content item or to block all future content items from a content provider associated with the content item. 
 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24  wherein the control enables the user to specify per-device or global blocking. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 18  wherein the unique identifiers include identifiers from different browsers or different applications. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 14  wherein the devices are selected from a group comprising a mobile device, a desktop device, a tablet, a browser, an application, or other device.