Information privacy system and method

Abstract

The subject disclosure relates to systems and methods for providing privacy for information. In one non-limiting embodiment, a system includes an environment monitoring component configured to monitor an aspect of an environment; and a privacy component configured to: determine whether factors associated with the environment are triggered; and obscure access or provide access to data or a program associated with the factors based on determining that the factors are triggered. Factors can be based on the time and the location or network connectivity of a device associated with the system, the detected presence or absence of an authorized person other than the user logged into the device or the privacy state of the user logged into the device. Motion detectors, cameras, biometric sensors and other devices can be employed in the determination of whether to provide or obscure access to the information.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An information privacy system, comprising:
 an environment monitoring component configured to monitor an aspect of an environment of a computing device; and   a privacy component configured to:
 receive information from the environment monitoring component about the aspect of the monitored environment; 
 based on the information about the monitored environment, determine whether one or more factors associated with the environment are triggered; and 
 in response to determining that at least one of the one or more factors associated with the environment are triggered, hide a device or firmware of the computing device from a list of the computing device. 
   
     
     
         2 . The information privacy system of  claim 1 , wherein the device is a physical storage device, and wherein the list is a device list of the computing device. 
     
     
         3 . The information privacy system of  claim 1 , wherein the privacy component is configured to hide the device or firmware of the computing device from the list of the computing device based at least on presence or absence of an authorized or unauthorized person. 
     
     
         4 . The information privacy system of  claim 3 , wherein the presence is at least one of a physical proximity to the computing device or an access to a network with which the computing device is associated. 
     
     
         5 . The information privacy system of  claim 1 , wherein the environment monitoring component comprises at least one of a camera, a motion sensor, a biometrics sensor, a fingerprint sensor, a body area network, a wireless body area network, a body sensor network, or a sensor configured to determine whether a device associated with the information privacy system is communicatively coupled to a selected network or a global positioning system sensor. 
     
     
         6 . The information privacy system of  claim 1 , wherein the privacy component is configured to hide the device or firmware of the computing device from the list of the computing device based at least one of the computing device being disconnected from a designated network, a location of the computing device being outside of a designated area, or a presence or absence of a second computing device. 
     
     
         7 . The information privacy system of  claim 1 , wherein the privacy component is configured to hide the device or firmware of the computing device from the list of the computing device based at least on the occurrence of a particular point of time or time period. 
     
     
         8 . An information privacy system, comprising:
 an environment monitoring component configured to detect an emergency event in an environment that includes a computing device; and   a privacy component configured to move data stored in the computing device to a location outside of the computing device responsive to a detection of the emergency event.   
     
     
         9 . The information privacy system of  claim 8 , wherein the environment monitoring component is configured to monitor for the emergency event by monitoring for at least one of a fire, temperature, heat, gas, or radiation in the environment. 
     
     
         10 . The information privacy system of  claim 8 , wherein the location is a cloud storage. 
     
     
         11 . The information privacy system of  claim 8 , wherein the cloud storage is subsequently inaccessible by the computing device. 
     
     
         12 . The information privacy system of  claim 8 , wherein the data comprises confidential data stored in the computing device. 
     
     
         13 . The information privacy system of  claim 8 , wherein the privacy component is configured to hide a device or firmware of the computing device on which the data is stored from a list in the computing device responsive to the detection of the emergency event. 
     
     
         14 . The information privacy system of  claim 8 , wherein the privacy component is configured to move the data by copying the data to the location and deleting the data from the computing device. 
     
     
         15 . The information privacy system of  claim 8 , wherein the privacy component is configured to subsequently restore the data at the computing device. 
     
     
         16 . An information privacy system, comprising:
 an environment monitoring component configured to monitor a presence of one or more parties with respect to a computing device in an environment; and   a privacy component configured to:
 determine an authorization status for at least one of the one or more parties based on the presence; and 
 move data stored in the computing device to a location that is outside the computing device, to which the computing device does not have access, based on the authorization status. 
   
     
     
         17 . The information privacy system of  claim 16 , wherein the location is a cloud storage. 
     
     
         18 . The information privacy system of  claim 16 , wherein the privacy component is configured to subsequently receive the data from the cloud storage to restore the data at the computing device. 
     
     
         19 . The information privacy system of  claim 16 , wherein the authorization status is determined based at least on an occurrence of a particular point in time or time period. 
     
     
         20 . The information privacy system of  claim 16 , wherein the privacy component is configured to hide a device or firmware of the computing device on which the data is stored from a list in the computing device responsive to the determined authorization status.