Abstract: The invention is a system based on decentralized ledgers to enable compliance with privacy regulations. A consumer identifier (consumer ID) allows consent provenance to be saved in a shared decentralized ledger. The consent ID also empowers consumers to query as to how their data has been moved through the data supply chain. The consumer data itself is not stored in the blockchain, only consents and data transfer events. A consent API allows companies to enter the original consumer consent in a consent ledger; a data transfer API allows companies to record transfers from one to another; and a subscription API allows companies to be notified of changes to a given consent.

Abstract: A system and method for propagating an opt-in through an identity graph fully honors opt-in requests without otherwise modifying the graph data structure. From a node corresponding to the touchpoint of the opt-in, the graph is traversed to find the associated primary node, from which all connected edges are traversed. Nodes on paths that are not connected to other primary nodes are opted in, along with the primary node. Edges that lead to nodes which have edges to other primary nodes are not opted in, but only the edge from the primary node itself is opted in. If household nodes are used, an identifier for the person at the household node may be opted in without opting in other members of the household node by opting in only the edge between the primary opt-in node and the household node.

Abstract: In one aspect, a computerized method for implementing a matching platform for entities includes the step of, in a real-time data processing layer, implementing a real-time linking on an input event stream. The method includes storing an output of the real-time linking in a state change store. The method includes the step of, in a high-throughput layer, implementing a high-throughput linking of entities from a batch data source stream. The method includes storing an output of the high-throughput linking of entities in a state store to generate a unified and consistent view of the entities across a different representation of the entities. The method includes implementing an on-demand linking using the state change store and the state store.

Abstract: A system and method for extracting search terms for corresponding data elements from a natural language document identifies meaningful words within the context; identifies and structures the keywords; expounds on the keywords to optimize the search results; and captures the most relevant data elements from the corresponding database. Predetermined demographic characteristics and short (one- or two-word) search phrases that capture descriptors of behavioral characteristics are structured in the process. The result of the completed process yields a parameter set naming demographic and behavioral characteristics along with a structure that is optimized for search within a database comprising a large number of data elements.

Abstract: A system for “horizontal” salting of database tables, text files, and data feeds utilizes a key field and character position within that field (the “Key Character”) and a Salting Field, which contains content that can legitimately be in one of at least two states without impacting the usefulness of the data. A unique identifier, which is assigned to the recipient of the data, is hidden within the data by using the variations of the states in the Salting Field, with the value of the Key Character identifying the position within the unique identifier. This type of salting is invisible to the recipient of the data file, does not alter the accuracy of the data, and can be made unique for a particular party receiving data files or unique for each data file.

Abstract: A system for applying fingerprinting/watermarking of consumer data, and analyzing “wild files” of consumer data to assign a guilt score for a particular party who may have leaked the data, allows the owner of data sources (“Data Owners”) to identify and assert ownership of textual data that has been distributed outside of their firewall in the clear (i.e., without encryption), either intentionally or unintentionally, and assign guilt to parties misusing the data. The system can be used by Data Owners who transmit, lease, or sell data to individuals or organizations (“Trusted Third Parties” or “TTPs”) to recognize and assert ownership of their data in the case where one or more TTPs leaks the data (the leaked file is defined as a “Leaked Subset”) into the hands of others (“Bad Actors”) who either knowingly or unknowingly use the data illegally.

Abstract: A system for applying fingerprinting/watermarking of consumer data, and analyzing “wild files” of consumer data to assign a guilt score for a particular party who may have leaked the data, allows the owner of data sources (“Data Owners”) to identify and assert ownership of textual data that has been distributed outside of their firewall in the clear (i.e., without encryption), either intentionally or unintentionally, and assign guilt to parties misusing the data. The system can be used by Data Owners who transmit, lease, or sell data to individuals or organizations (“Trusted Third Parties” or “TTPs”) to recognize and assert ownership of their data in the case where one or more TTPs leaks the data (the leaked file is defined as a “Leaked Subset”) into the hands of others (“Bad Actors”) who either knowingly or unknowingly use the data illegally.

Abstract: A system and method for transforming input data in a data graph is structured in such a way that it does not destroy embedded contextual data yet also keeps the number of edges in the data graph sufficiently small in number that computation with respect to the data in the data graph is feasible with existing computational resources on extremely large graph sets. Incoming data is represented as a collection of “cliques” rather than placing each data object into its own node in the graph database. Maintaining the clique structure though the graph build pipeline dramatically reduces the exponential increase in the number of edges in the graph, while also maintaining all of the contextual data presented on the input record.

Abstract: Change fingerprinting is applied to a text file, database table, or data feed to determine the timeframe in which an identified “wild file” was generated, even when its file creation meta-data is missing. Each row in the data contains information on a single object. At least one column in the data contains an age for each object at the time the file was created. The age data can be used to determine the date the file was created, such as by using recognition processing or by looking at data that has been added or dropped from the file based on age. By identifying the timeframe in which the wild file was created, the data owner may greatly reduce the computational burden needed to determine if the wild file contains stolen data because it greatly reduces the universe of files that must be compared to the wild file.

Abstract: A system and method for identifying a leaked data file and assigning guilt to one or more suspected leakers proceeds through a plurality of levels. At a first level, primary watermark detection occurs. Data is inserted into a subset of data to determine correlation with data in the suspected leaked file. The guilt probability that results is then weighted based on the number of bits matched. In a second level, another search process is performed for detecting additional salt-related patterns. The guilt score is then computed for every detected recipient identifier for the suspected leaked data file, and the relative guilt of these recipients is weighted. In a third layer, the statistical distribution of data in the suspected leaked file is compared with that of corresponding data in the reference files. After this layer is complete, the average of guilt scores across each of the layers is calculated.

Abstract: A system for managing opt-out instructions includes a global opt-out service and opt-out store in communication with regional subsystems. The opt-out service maintains a global opt-out store database of consumers for whom opt-out instructions have been received. The opt-out store includes no personal data, but instead contains only anonymized data. Before consumer data is utilized, an anonymized identifier is created by a regional data anonymizer and transmitted to the opt-out store. The opt-out instructions are applied by searching for a match in the opt-out store for a matching anonymized identifier. In this manner, the system may comply with privacy laws and regulations concerning the transmission of personal data outside of a region, while still providing a global opt-out service.

Abstract: A system for applying fingerprinting/watermarking of consumer data, and analyzing “wild files” of consumer data to assign a guilt score for a particular party who may have leaked the data, allows the owner of data sources (“Data Owners”) to identify and assert ownership of textual data that has been distributed outside of their firewall in the clear (i.e., without encryption), either intentionally or unintentionally, and assign guilt to parties misusing the data. The system can be used by Data Owners who transmit, lease, or sell data to individuals or organizations (“Trusted Third Parties” or “TTPs”) to recognize and assert ownership of their data in the case where one or more TTPs leaks the data (the leaked file is defined as a “Leaked Subset”) into the hands of others (“Bad Actors”) who either knowingly or unknowingly use the data illegally.

Abstract: A system and method for salting and fingerprinting database tables, text files, data feeds, and the like, first resorts the data according to a field or fields in the data set. A salting recipe is selected and applied to the sorted data. A fingerprint of the data is captured after sorting and salting. The data is then restored to its original order before being sent to a trusted third party. Because the data owner retains information concerning the sorting sorting sonar technique, salting technique, and the fingerprint, the data owner can reconstruct the unsalted file from the salted file, and can determine if a wild file contains data from the data file. The salting is difficult to detect by the bad actor, even if the bad actor is aware that the data has been salted.

Abstract: A system and method for statistical fingerprinting of structured datasets begins by dividing the structured database into groups of data subsets. These subsets are created based on the structure of the data; for example, data delineated by columns and rows may be broken into subsets by designating each column as a subset. A fingerprint is derived from each subset, and then the fingerprint for each subset is combined in order to create an overall fingerprint for the dataset. By applying this process to a “wild file” of unknown provenance, and comparing the result to a data owner's files, it may be determined if data in the wild file was wrongfully acquired from the data owner.

Abstract: A method and system for bringing together online and offline advertising uses partner-encoded anonymous links that are associated with consumer data. The partner-encoded anonymous links allow processing without personally identifiable information (PII) in a secure environment. Data is matched using identifiers that are encrypted for use in connection with individual match distribution partners. The method and system allows a marketer to utilize offline data to precisely target advertisements without the use of PII, and to perform analytics concerning the use of the online advertisements to more precisely determine the effectiveness of multichannel marketing efforts.

Abstract: Principal components analysis is applied to data sets to fingerprint the dataset or to compare the dataset to a “wild file” that may have been constructed from data found in the dataset. Principal components analysis allows for the reduction of data used for comparison down to a parsimonious compressed signature of a dataset. Datasets with different patterns among the variables will have different patterns of principal components. The principal components of variables (or a relevant subset thereof) in a wild file may be computed and statistically compared to the principal components of identical variables in a data provider's reference file to provide a score. This constitutes a unique and compressed signature of a file that can be used for identification and comparison with similarly defined patterns from other files.

Abstract: A system and method for the creation of household links (HHLs) associates each household with particular consumers associated with a consumer link (CL) and an address link (AL). The system and method utilize a feedback loop system to maintain persistence of HHLs over time and more accurately resolve HHLs. Top-down and bottom-up clustering methods are applied to the data, and the best results are taken to generate the final association of HHLs with particular ALs and CLs. By more accurately identifying the households associated with particular consumer data, the invention significantly reduces the storage requirements and time required for processing very large consumer data sets.

Abstract: A distributed node cluster architecture within a parallel computing environment provides for the association of individuals and households accessing a communications network through multiple electronic communications devices with a particular digital touchpoint or touchpoints used when communicating on the network. The cluster facilitates the determination of a touchpoint when an individual or household name is determined, or, alternatively, the determination of an individual or household when a touchpoint is received. A persistent linkage of digital touchpoints to individuals or households communicates with an entity resolution system executing at the node cluster to track data pertaining to entities, allowing the coordination of touchpoints with such individual consumers or households over time.

Abstract: A system and method utilizes a data integration input routine receive raw data set(s) from identity data storage media resources, generate an edge type from each data set, and store the edge type from each data set in a first temporary storage media, from which a graph construction module retrieves the edge types and combines them to produce a consolidated edge store, a search of which is used to find graph component paths. Current paths are joined against the consolidated edge store to find edges that extend each path in the consolidated edge store, those paths that extend are stored in a graph component table, from which a sample of graph paths are downloaded and a graph is constructed. A circuit analysis engine is used to perform a circuit analysis and a selectivity module is used to selectively modify the scope of the circuit analysis and results.

Abstract: A machine and method of reducing duplicate transmission data employs one more more digests to track field/value pairs that have previously been distributed. Each digest contains a record table and a segment table. The record table includes anonymous identifier records, each of which contain an anonymous identifier and one or more indexes into the segment table. The segment table comprises an array of every existing data field/value pair. Before distribution of update data, each record is matched to an anonymous identifier record in the record table. The segment values in the prospective distribution record are compared to the digest's anonymous identifier record, used to determine which data has already been distributed, and thus will be suppressed in the distribution.