Method and system for monitoring online behavior at a remote site and creating online behavior profiles
View Patent ↗A method and system for monitoring users on one or more computer networks, disassociating personally identifiable information from the collected data, and storing it in a database so that the privacy of the users is protected. The system includes monitoring transactions at both a client and at a server, collecting network transaction data, and aggregating the data collected at the client and at the server. The system receives a user identifier and uses it to create an anonymized identifier. The anonymized identifier is then associated with one or more users' computer network transactions. The data is stored by a collection engine and then aggregated to a central database server across a computer network.
1. A method for collecting transaction data generated by users accessing a network through an internet service provider without associating personally identifiable information with the transaction data, comprising:
obtaining an identifier from an internet service provider representing one or more users of a computer network;
creating an anonymized identifier using the obtained identifier at the internet service provider;
collecting data being transmitted across the computer network from the internet service provider;
collecting transaction data associated with a merchant system on the network which is separate from the internet service provider, for transactions conducted between the merchant and one or more users of the computer network;
creating one or more transaction codes using the collected transaction data;
associating the anonymized identifier with the collected data and the one or more transaction codes;
creating a transaction record including one or more transaction codes and an anonymized identifier; and
storing the transaction record.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the anonymized identifier is created by applying a one-way hashing function to the obtained identifier.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the anonymized identifier is created by applying a one-way hashing function to the obtained identifier and a security key.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the one-way hashing function is the Secure Hashing Algorithm 1 (SHA-1) algorithm.
5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the one-way hashing function is the Message Digest 4 (MD4) algorithm.
6. The method of claim 3 , wherein the one-way hashing function is the Message Digest 5 (MD5) algorithm.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the act of obtaining an identifier representing one or more users of a computer network includes:
receiving packets sent from an authentication server; and
extracting an identifier from the received packets.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the authentication server is a RADIUS authentication server.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the received packets are RADIUS authentication timestamp packets.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transaction code identifies whether a purchase was made.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transaction code identifies one or more categories of services or merchandise.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifier is a network address.
13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the network address is an Internet Protocol (IP) address.
14. The method of claim 1 , wherein said storing of the transaction record is conducted in a database.