Abstract: The invention disclosed here is aimed at enabling a trusted third party to manage user opt-ins which would enable growth of personalized information services, that is, enabling trusted business relationships between three types of entities—an end-user, an information source/provider, and an application service provider/developer—so that they can have a controlled, secure and private exchange of sensitive and/or confidential information. The inventive system has modes of operation recommended based on various conditions, enabling a secure exchange of private information between personal information repository owners and application services providers to enable deliver of personalized services. One mode is Durable Subscription Management, which is used when per transaction approval is not needed, that is, when an end-user has given permission to access data for a given or predefined period of time.

Abstract: A system, method, and computer program product for enabling mediated access to information controlled by one or more information repositories by one or more application service providers. The information controlled by the one or more information repositories is associated with one or more subscribers of information-based services offered by the one or more application service providers.

Abstract: Various embodiments of the present invention for validating the authenticity of a website are provided. An example of a method according to the present invention comprises providing a website having an artifact, receiving a communication from a user, at a service provider, for validating the website associated with a service provider, inquiring from the user a description of the artifact comparing the artifact on the website with the description of the artifact from the user and generating a indication to the user based upon the comparing. The communication is over a first communication channel and the website is accessed over a second communication channel. The first communication channel is different than the second. The artifact can be displayed after a user session is identified.

Abstract: The invention disclosed here is aimed at enabling a trusted third party to manage user opt-ins which would enable growth of personalized information services, that is, enabling trusted business relationships between three types of entities—an end-user, an information source/provider, and an application service provider/developer—so that they can have a controlled, secure and private exchange of sensitive and/or confidential information. The inventive system has modes of operation recommended based on various conditions, enabling a secure exchange of private information between personal information repository owners and application services providers to enable deliver of personalized services. One mode is Durable Subscription Management, which is used when per transaction approval is not needed, that is, when an end-user has given permission to access data for a given or predefined period of time.

Abstract: A system and method for controlled introduction of noise to information filtering, comprises requesting, directly or indirectly, infatuation by a user having a user profile, obtaining the requested information, generating the noise related to the requested information and the user profile, and presenting the requested information and the noise in an information stream. Generating can further comprise finding aggregate profiles relevant to the user profile, obtaining the noise from non-overlapping parts of the aggregate profiles, and prioritizing the noise based on predefined rules. In one embodiment, each of the aggregate profiles comprises at least one characteristic found in the user profile. The aggregate profiles can be constructed using data mining or data aggregation mechanisms. In one embodiment, the noise is generated using random selection or complex selection algorithms.

Abstract: A system, method, and computer program product for enabling mediated access to information controlled by one or more information repositories by one or more application service providers. The information controlled by the one or more information repositories is associated with one or more subscribers of information-based services offered by the one or more application service providers.