WO2001065442A1

WO2001065442A1 - Method and system for user defined filtering of communications to anonymous users in a computer network

Info

Publication number: WO2001065442A1
Application number: PCT/US2001/005508
Authority: WO
Inventors: Salvatore J. Stolfo; Jonathan Smith
Original assignee: Iprivacy Llc
Priority date: 2000-02-29
Filing date: 2001-02-22
Publication date: 2001-09-07
Also published as: AU2001238588A1

Abstract

A method and system for user-defined filtering of communications to anonymous users of a computer-based communications network. A user's true identity is shielded from all others having access to the network, thereby rendering the user anonymous. Users are formed into at least one user group. Communications from a commercial entity aimed at anonymous users who have opted to join the user group are received by a proxy (12) and transferred to those anonymous users who have opted to join the user group such that a user's true identity is not revealed to the commercial entity or any other users. The system comprises at least one user computer (10) connected to a network (20), at least one proxy server computer (12) connected to the network (20), a first computer executable routine running on the proxy computer (12) allowing users to join at least one pre-defined user group and a storage for recording user data.

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR USER DEFINED

FILTERING OF COMMUNICATIONS TO ANONYMOUS USERS IN A COMPUTER NETWORK

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to networks and, more particularly, to a method and system that allows users to selectively receive and respond to communications from pre-selected commercial entities, while remaining anonymous. The term commercial entity includes any merchant, marketer, advertiser, manufacturer, retailer, wholesaler, consumer group, bank/financial institution, government agency, or any similar private or public institution.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

As used herein, the term computer includes any device or machine capable of accepting data, applying prescribed processes to the data, and supplying the results of the processes. The term "communications network" is also meant in a broad sense, and may include any suitable technology for information transmission, including electrical, electromagnetic and optical technologies. Such a communications network may link computers, e.g., a LAN or WAN. Although the invention is described with particular reference to an open network, such as the Internet, it may also be used in other networks, internets and intranets. The Internet, or World Wide Web, continues to increase in importance as a place for business, offering a wide variety of information and services to potential customers. However, as an open network, the Internet provides opportunities to legally and illegally collect and use vast amounts of information which people consider both private and personal, and increasing concerns about privacy, fraud and security online could inhibit the continued growth of business- to-consumer "electronic commerce."

Currently, shopping, browsing and other information-sharing activities on the Internet expose users to unwanted collection of their private and personal information, from which their identities, activities, behaviors and preferences can be ascertained. For example, without a user's permission, web marketers and merchants often gather "click data" that details every web-site a user visits with his or her browser. Underlying communications protocols and systems may provide additional private and/or personal information. In addition, users are often asked for, and provide, personal information about themselves in order to become "members" of a particular web-site. This data is then used to create demographic profiles linked with each user's identity, including his or her name, postal address and email address, gender, age, and other personal information. This information is routinely bought and sold among parties who link and merge the information with other transaction data from other sources (i.e., "data mining") offered for sale by third parties and vendors to create a sophisticated and detailed behavior profile of users, in order to target those users for advertising. This unwarranted level of intrusion into the private information of a user, often unknown to the user, is perceived as a fundamental threat to personal freedoms, creating an outcry among a number of privacy groups and a potential impediment to the growth of e-commerce.

This inherent lack of privacy has made many users fearful that someone may be watching their every move when they interact on the Internet, and that somehow information collected by such watchers will be used to their disadvantage, ranging from outright theft using stolen credit card information to unwanted intrusions in the form of "spam" e-mail from online marketers. This latter problem can be particularly vexing, as users may become inundated with intrusive e-mail messages from marketers and merchants that they are not interested in hearing from. This is the online version of the telephone telemarketing schemes that, at one time or another, have disturbed and frustrated almost everyone who owns a telephone. As with telemarketers, once an online marketer gets access to a user's e-mail address and adds it to an e-mailing list, it is extremely difficult for a user to have himself or herself removed from such a list.

In the face of these problems, tools have been developed to address privacy and security concerns of Internet users. (See, e.g., the February, 1999 issue of Communications of the ACM, Vol. 42. No. 2.) One approach developed to help protect the identity of Internet users allows them to surf the Web anonymously utilizing anonymizing agents, which prevent a user's IP address from reaching a web-site. Some of these tools enable Internet users to insert pseudonyms into Web forms, so that users can anonymously return to the same site as the same user. Different pseudonyms can be provided for different web sites. Examples of anonymizing agents include: "The Anonymizer," (www.anonvmizer.com^'); "Lucent Personalized Web Assistant" (LPWA) (www.bell- labs.com/proiect/lpwa); Privaseek's "PersonaExpress" (www.privaseeek.com); and Zero Knowledge's "Freedom.net" (www.zks.com).

In addition, a privacy seal program has been instituted by a non-profit organization, TRUSTe. Member web-sites displaying the TRUSTe "trustmark" are required to adhere to established privacy principles. These principles include adoption and implementation of a privacy policy that takes into account consumer anxiety over sharing personal information online, notice and disclosure of the web-site's information collection and use practices and the opportunity for users to exercise some control over their information. Other examples of systems and methods for anonymous and/or secure

Internet communications and transactions are disclosed in U.S. Patents 5,961,593 to Gabber et al. and 6,006,200 to Boies et al, and U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 09/360,812 to the present inventor. While Gabber does allow users to maintain some degree of privacy while transacting business on the Internet, it requires users to disclose most of their personal identity information to a proxy. This system also does not permit users to easily opt in to receiving marketing information from user-selected merchants and opt out of receiving such information, all while remaining completely anonymous to merchants and other users. Thus, there is a need for a system and method for enabling users to anonymously target online merchants (or government agencies) and selectively receive direct marketing communications from online merchants, in the form of electronic mail messages, without disclosing a user's true identity. Such a system would provide both additional flexibility and security over the prior art, and eliminate unwanted commercial solicitations and marketing information (e.g., junk e-mail or "spam").

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In a preferred embodiment, the present invention is a method for user- defined filtering of communications to anonymous users of a computer-based communications network comprising the steps of: shielding each user's true identity from all others having access to the network, thereby rendering the users anonymous; forming a plurality of users into at least one user group, or "selling circle"; receiving communications from a commercial entity aimed at anonymous users who are members of the user group; and transferring the communications to those anonymous users who are members of the user group such that a user's true identity is not revealed to the commercial entity or any other user. In this specification, the terms "user group" and "selling circle" are interchangeable. The term "commercial entity" is defined as any merchant, marketer, advertiser, manufacturer, retailer, wholesaler, consumer group, bank/financial institution, government agency, or any similar private or public institution.

Users may also respond to communications from commercial entities while remaining anonymous, and opt out of a user group at any time, in order to discontinue receipt of further communications. The communications network may be the Internet, and the commercial entities may be online merchants. In one application, the anonymous users may be shopping on the Internet. In addition, users may join a user group by accessing a web- site and providing an electronic mail (e-mail) address. The user's e-mail address may then be recorded, and the user may be assigned a proxy electronic mail address, so that the user's true identity is shielded from commercial entities. The user's proxy e-mail address may be provided to commercial entities. The present invention may also create a marketplace for user identities by enabling anonymous users to broker their true identities to commercial entities.

The user groups, or selling circles, may be defined by a particular product type or category (i.e., cars, books, cameras etc.), a particular commercial entity (i.e., a particular online merchant, marketer, consumer group, etc.), or, more specifically, by a particular product model. Selling circles may also be formed by grouping users through data mining of anonymous user transaction data sets to establish common patterns and interests among users, or, in the alternative, by grouping online merchants through data mining of transaction data sets to establish common patterns among online merchants.

In another embodiment, the invention is a system for user-defined filtering of communications to anonymous users in a computer based communications network comprising: a) at least one user computer connected to the network; b) at least one proxy server computer connected to the network; c) a first computer executable routine running on the proxy computer allowing users to join at least one pre-defined user group; and d) a storage for recording user data. The user computer accesses the proxy server and a user can opt to join a pre-defined user group, or selling circle. Qualified commercial entities connected to the network can target the user group by sending communications to the proxy server, aimed at members of the user group. The proxy server forwards the communications to users who have opted to join the targeted user group, such that the user can receive and respond to communications without revealing the user's true identity to the commercial entity. The first computer executable routine may also assign a proxy e-mail address to users who have opted to join a user group, and the recorded user data may comprise both these proxy e-mail addresses and their corresponding true e-mail addresses. The system may further comprise at least one web site controlled by the proxy server computer, and dedicated to at least one pre-defined user group, wherein users may access the web site in order to opt in to the user group or opt out of the user group. The system may further comprise a second computer executable routine, running on the proxy computer, for creating user groups based on user provided criteria. In still another embodiment, the invention is a software program implemented on a proxy server computer for user-defined filtering of communications to anonymous users of a computer-based communications network, the software program allowing the proxy server computer to: shield a user's identity from all other users with access to the network; at a user's option, accept a user in at least one user group; receive communications from the commercial entity aimed at anonymous users who have opted to join the user group; and transfer the communications to those anonymous users who have opted to join the user group. In this manner, a user's true identity is not revealed to the commercial entity or any other user. The software program may further allow the proxy server computer to permit a user to opt out of a user group at any time, thereby discontinuing receipt of further communications from commercial entities.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be understood and appreciated more fully from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the drawings in which: FIG. 1 is a high level block diagram illustrating a computer network system of the present invention that allows users to selectively receive and respond to communications from pre-selected commercial entities.

FIG. 2 is table showing exemplary data found in a database used in the system of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention maintains total anonymity of users who browse and shop via the Internet, but allows users to "opt in" to a service (hereinafter "OPT IN Service") whereby they may allow merchants or other entities to directly market to them without disclosing their private information, and without providing for the profiling of user' s behavior while they browse the Web over time. The OPT IN service enables users to enjoy the benefits of direct marketing functions without disclosing their true identity. This is accomplished by providing users with the opportunity to join, or "opt in" to, a user group, or a "selling circle." A selling circle is a group of anonymous users with a common set of interests, preferred retailers and/or preferred items they are interested in receiving information about for possible purchases. These criteria or preferences are not inferred via data mining over user transaction and browsing data sets, but are rather chosen explicitly by the user when opting in to the service. Users are therefore not partitioned based upon their private information. Rather, users are invited to join a selling circle that provides access to retailers or products that the user may be interested in. There are a number of ways that a selling circle can be defined and made available to anonymous users. Data mining over anonymous transaction data sets to determine interesting buying patterns in the aggregate, and form "circles" of common interests, is a common data mining task applied to user transaction databases, and is a preferred embodiment of the present invention. In the alternative, selling circles may simply be defined by a particular merchant, a particular product type (i.e., cars, books, cameras etc.), or a particular product model. This grouping mechanism provides a means of "cross selling" among anonymous users.

A user simply decides which of the "selling circles" he or she wishes to join, in a manner similar to joining a "chat room." Anonymous users, however, are not given access to each other's proxy identities, so they are prevented from interacting with each other. When they opt in to a selling circle, they are not required to disclose any personal information about themselves, only their e-mail address. Instead, they are assigned a proxy identity with a new proxy email address that does not reveal their true email address or true identity. This proxy email address is maintained by the OPT IN service in a secured email address mapper (SEAM) database for forwarding of email received by web merchants or advertisers. Alternatively, instead of generating and assigning proxy e-mail addresses, users' true e-mail addresses are stored. Access to a group of users is then provided by a broadcast e-mail to all users whose true e-mail addresses have been stored. The OPT IN service enables users to selectively allow merchants of their choice to learn how to contact them. The service can conveniently allow users to enroll online, and change any time, their participation in any particular selling circle (i.e., users may easily opt in and opt out). The service can be marketed to e-commεrce merchants who otherwise could not directly contact their anonymous customers, or potential customers. The anonymous user need not supply their own demographic data to the service, because they will not be indexed in a "DEMOGRAPHIC USER GROUP," as is commonly done today often without the direct knowledge of the user. Entering an OPT IN selling circle requires and ensures anonymity and privacy of the entrants.

Merchants and advertisers can "broadcast advertise" to the selling circle. The merchants would receive a proxy email address that hides the user's true identity and browsing behaviors, but can still reach the user if the user has OPTed IN. So users of the OPT IN service can visit their chosen selling circle to find ads of possible interest, or discount deals offered by merchants who can reach them via e-mails or broadcast advertising. The OPT IN service can also define targeted merchant groups. This means that users can select merchants with whom they want a more direct relationship, but rather than telling the merchant their true identity, they simply join the merchant's selling circle. This concept is "reverse targeting" - allowing anonymous users to target merchants, rather than having merchants target users whose names they have purchased or acquired through prior interactions with those users. Today, it is typically the case that merchants may allow users to opt out of receiving information from them, but only upon the active request of the user. In the present invention, the default state is that users are not contacted, but must instead OPT IN to receiving information from merchants they select. Reference is now made to FIG. 1 which is a schematic diagram illustrating the principles of the present invention, as described above, in a typical Internet based service. The user, whose user/client computer is depicted as element 10, accesses a proxy server 12, via the Internet 20, and decides to join a selling circle 14 that includes access to or by the merchant web-site, W, displayed as element 16. Upon registering with the OPT IN selling circle for the merchant W, the user's true email address, USER1@ISP is stored in a secured database 18 (the "Secured E-mail Address Mapper" or SEAM) accessible only by the OPT IN server. SEAM database 18 may be located with the proxy server 12, or at some other remote location. The typical content of the SEAM is shown for the user in table form as element 30 in FIG. 2. As shown, the OPT IN server generates and stores a proxy e-mail address 32 for the user for each selling circle the user joins; in this case, the user's generated e-mail address for selling circle 14, which is geared toward merchant W, is Privatel@iprivacy.com (shown as element 32 in FIG. 2). Authorized merchant web-sites, like web-site 16, may now send messages to anonymous user 10 by sending e-mail to a proxy address, i.e., Privatel@jprivacy.com. A mailbox 22 receives messages directed toward the address Privatel@iprivacy.com, and the SEAM 18 maps those messages to the user's true e-mail address Userl@ISP. Proxy server 12 then transfers those messages to the user, without revealing the user's identity to the merchant W. In addition, the proxy server 12 only requires the user's e-mail address when registering for a particular selling circle, so the user need not divulge any more information than necessary in order to receive direct marketing information from a selected merchant. Notice the secured communication channels depicted as solid heavy lines 24 and 26 which allow communication between the user's client computer 10, and the anonymizing proxy server 14. This secured channeling prevents third parties from "listening in" to breach the user's private information while in transit between the computers over the network. This is a common occurrence on the Internet because communication typically occurs over open, unsecured connections, shown in FIG. 1 as element 28, linking the merchant web-site and the selling circle via the Internet 20. As only the user's proxy e-mail address is communicated over unsecured line 28, the user's privacy is not compromised.

When a retailer or advertiser wishes to send an advertisement to a group of prospective buyers, they simply send e-mails or advertisements to the selling circle of their choice to which they have been granted access (e.g., everyone@selling- circlel.iprivacy.com) . E-mail sent to anonymous users who have opted in to the selling circle is forwarded to the true email address of the registered users by reading the intended target email addresses from the SEAM database 30, shown in FIG. 2. Alternatively, a user's proxy email address may be sent directly to a particular retailer, who then may target that user individually by sending email directly to that proxy email address (e.g., privatel@iprivacy.com, or alternatively privatel@Selling-circlel.iprivacy.com) . In such cases, the email received by the OPT IN service on behalf of the anonymous user from the merchant, is forwarded to the user's true email address by reading from the SEAM database. Individual targeting, as in the latter case, may have certain advantages to both the retailer and the individual user. For example, the retailer may decide to have a limited promotional event, such as random drawings for prizes or discounts, and they may wish to limit the number of receiving parties by sending individual e-mails to a randomly drawn sample of selling circle members. Retailers may as well be interested in paying an anonymous user for their true identity, in which case the economic advantage to the user may compel them to reveal their identity. Thus, the selling circle may also be a means for creating a marketplace for buying identities, which serves the user's own economic interests, and allows the user to control their own participation in this marketplace.

The owner or operator of the OPT IN service can also sell access to a particular merchant's selling circle to the merchant itself. If a user opts in to a merchant's selling circle, the user is automatically assigned a proxy email for that circle that is used only by that merchant to target the user with information. The user may choose to have the e- mail sent directly to him, or only when the user visits the selling circle (for example, by browsing a web page). Internet users typically receive unsolicited e-mail (or spam mail) with little recourse but to buy and use special "filtering programs" that delete the e-mail.

The OPT IN service will filter all e-mail to the anonymous user, passing through only that e- mail the user has opted in to receive. Again, users can easily opt in to any selling circle they wish, and opt out of any selling circle they do not like.

Retailers, merchants or marketers are granted access to the selling circle by providing them with a code or certificate. Broadcast or e-mail access to the anonymous participants in the selling circle is therefore controlled by authorization mechanisms that are commonly available today. Complaints received from anonymous users or other abuses are handled by denying access to the selling circle by any abusers simply by deactivating the code or refusing the certificate previously sold or provided. The list of proxy e-mail addresses of members of the selling circle can be sold to merchants, retailers or marketers on a routine basis, with updates for those anonymous users who have opted out of the selling circle. In such cases, the anonymous user's e-mail address would be expunged from the SEAM so no e-mail sent by merchants will reach him. Thus, users can turn off their participation in a selling circle as easily as joining the selling circle, at any time.

While the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that numerous variations and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. Accordingly, it should be clearly understood that the embodiments of the invention described above are not intended as limitations on the scope of the invention, which is defined only by the following claims.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A method for user-defined filtering of communications to anonymous users of a computer-based communications network comprising the steps of: shielding each user's true identity from all others having access to the network, thereby rendering the users anonymous; forming a plurality of users into at least one user group; receiving communications from a commercial entity aimed at anonymous users who are members of the user group; and transferring communications from the commercial entity to those anonymous users who have opted to join the user group, such that a user's true identity is not revealed to the commercial entity or any other user.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of allowing users to opt out of a user group at any time, thereby discontinuing receipt of further communications from commercial entities.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of: enabling users to respond to the communications while remaining anonymous.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the communications network is the Internet.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the commercial entities are online merchants.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the anonymous users are shopping on the Internet.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein users may join a user group by accessing a web-site and providing an electronic mail address.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising recording a user's electronic mail address, and assigning a proxy electronic mail address to the user, thereby shielding the user's true identity from commercial entities.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising, between the step of permitting and the step of receiving, the step of: providing a user's proxy electronic mail address to the commercial entity.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one user group is defined by a product category.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one user group is defined by a particular commercial entity.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one user group is defined by a particular product model.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one user group is formed by grouping users through data mining of anonymous user transaction data sets to establish common patterns and interests among users.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one user group is formed by grouping online merchants through data mining of transaction data sets to establish common patterns among online merchants.

15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of: enabling anonymous users to broker their true identities to commercial entities, thereby creating a market for the identities.

16. A system for user-defined filtering of communications to anonymous users in a computer based communications network comprising: a) at least one user computer connected to the network; b) at least one proxy server computer connected to the network; c) a first computer executable routine running on the proxy computer allowing users to join at least one pre-defined user group; and d) a storage for recording user data wherein the user computer accesses the proxy server and a user can opt to join a predefined user group, and commercial entities connected to the network can target the user group by sending communications to the proxy server, aimed at members of the user group, and the proxy server forwards the communications to users who have opted to join the targeted user group, such that the user can receive and respond to communications without revealing the user's true identity to the commercial entity.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising at least one web-site controlled by the proxy server computer, and dedicated to at least one pre-defined user group, wherein users may access the web-site in order to opt in to the user group or opt out of the user group.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein said first computer executable routine also assigns a proxy electronic mail address to users who have opted to join a user group.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein said user data comprises user electronic mail addresses.

20. The system of claim 16, further comprising a second computer executable routine, running on the proxy computer, for creating user groups based on user provided criteria.

21. A software program implemented on a proxy server computer for user- defined filtering of communications to anonymous users of a computer-based communications network, the software program allowing the proxy server computer to: shield a user's identity from all other users with access to the network; accept a user in at least one user group; receive communications from a commercial entity aimed at anonymous users who have opted to join the user group; and transfer the communications to those anonymous users who have opted to join the user group such that a user's true identity is not revealed to the commercial entity or any other user.

22. The software program of claim 21 further allowing the proxy server computer to permit a user to opt out of a user group at any time, thereby discontinuing receipt of further communications from commercial entities.