Abstract: A privacy service is provided for use in protection of user data transferred in a network, including a converged network. The privacy service extracts and measures service elements of a message containing user data. The service elements include an identity element, a trust element, a rights element and a security element. The privacy service performs security by comparing service elements with a user defined privacy policy. The privacy policy may also be based on particular factors relating to the application, context, and time of the message. In another embodiment, the privacy service provides controls that indicate when user data is misappropriated as a result of an infringement of the user defined privacy policy. Further the privacy service provides a means to audit and trace deviations from the privacy policy for the purpose of repudiation, or future defense of security threats.