Privacy firewalls for access control

1 . A non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer implementable instructions that when executed by at least one processor cause the at least one processor to perform operations for controlling access to private medical information, the operations comprising:

receiving a request to access a content of an element, the content of the element includes at least a first portion and a second portion, the first portion includes identifiable information and the second portion does not include identifiable information, and the request to access the content of the element is a request to access the content of the element for a mathematical optimization of a function;

accessing a permission record corresponding to the element;

providing full, partial or no access, based on a value in the permission record, to the content of the element, wherein full access includes access to the first portion and the second portion of the content of the element, and wherein partial access includes access to the second portion of the content of the element and excludes access to the first portion of the content of the element; and

when providing partial access to the content of the element, providing access to an update information for the mathematical optimization of the function calculated using the first portion of the content of the element.

2 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise: based on the value in the permission record, providing access to synthetic information, the synthetic information is based on the content of the element.

3 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise: based on the value in the permission record, providing statistical information based on the content of the element.

4 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise: based on the value in the permission record, providing statistical information based on a selected portion of the content of the element.

5 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise: based on the value in the permission record, denying access to the content of the element.

6 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:

determining whether a third portion of the content of the element includes identifiable information;

when providing full access to the content of the element, providing access to the third portion of the content of the element; and

when providing partial access to the content of the element, either providing or denying, based on the determination, access to the third portion of the content of the element.

7 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein receiving the request to access the content of the element comprises:

accessing a stream of digital communication data sent by a first computing device to a second computing device; and

analyzing the stream to detect the request in the stream.

8 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the analysis of the stream is performed by a third computing device.

9 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the analysis of the stream is performed by the second computing device.

10 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 7 , wherein excluding access to the first portion of the content of the element comprises:

accessing a second stream of digital communication data, the second stream of digital communication is a stream sent by the second computing device to the first computing device;

analyzing the second stream to detect information based on at least part of the first portion of the content of the element in the second stream; and

in response to a detection of the information based on the at least part of the first portion of the content of the element, blocking at least part of the second stream from reaching the first computing device.

11 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 7 , wherein excluding access to the first portion of the content of the element comprises:

modifying at least part of the stream of digital communication data to obtain a modified stream; and

providing the modified stream to the second computing device.

12 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the operations further comprise: either allowing or blocking, based on the value in the permission record, at least part of the stream of digital communication data reaching the second computing device.

13 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the request to access the content of the element includes an indication of a requesting entity, and the operations further comprise selecting the permission record corresponding to the element of a plurality of alternative permission records corresponding to the element based on the requesting entity.

14 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the request to access the content of the element includes an indication of an intended usage, and the operations further comprise selecting the permission record corresponding to the element of a plurality of alternative permission records corresponding to the element based on the intendent usage.

15 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise: when providing partial access to the content of the element, providing access to a value of a mathematical expression of a gradient of the function calculated using the first portion of the content of the element.

16 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the request to access the content of the element is a request to access the content of the element to determine a value of a function using the first portion of the content of the element, and the operations further comprise: when providing partial access to the content of the element, providing access to a value of the function calculated using the first portion of the content of the element.

17 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving an input defining a function; and,

when providing partial access to the content of the element:

causing a usage of an identified copy of the element to calculate a value of the function; and

causing presenting a de-identified copy of the element with the calculated value of the function.

18 . A system for controlling access to private medical information, the system comprising:

at least one processor configured to:

receive a request to access a content of an element, the content of the element includes at least a first portion and a second portion, the first portion includes identifiable information and the second portion does not include identifiable information, and the request to access the content of the element is a request to access the content of the element for a mathematical optimization of a function;

access a permission record corresponding to the element;

provide full, partial or no access, based on a value in the permission record, to the content of the element, wherein full access includes access to the first portion and the second portion of the content of the element, and wherein partial access includes access to the second portion of the content of the element and excludes access to the first portion of the content of the element; and

when providing partial access to the content of the element, providing access to an update information for the mathematical optimization of the function calculated using the first portion of the content of the element.

19 . A method for controlling access to private medical information, the method comprising:

receiving a request to access a content of an element, the content of the element includes at least a first portion and a second portion, the first portion includes identifiable information and the second portion does not include identifiable information, and the request to access the content of the element is a request to access the content of the element for a mathematical optimization of a function;

accessing a permission record corresponding to the element;

providing full, partial or no access, based on a value in the permission record, to the content of the element, wherein full access includes access to the first portion and the second portion of the content of the element, and wherein partial access includes access to the second portion of the content of the element and excludes access to the first portion of the content of the element; and

when providing partial access to the content of the element, providing access to an update information for the mathematical optimization of the function calculated using the first portion of the content of the element.

20 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the update information includes at least one of step size or step direction.