Consumption history privacy
An audience selection system for the selection of an entity, based on an entity's consumption history without requiring the storage of a content descriptor for identifying content previously accessed by the entity. By directly and/or indirectly observing the usage of words used to locate content through a search engine over time for a population, a list of depersonalized keywords can be discovered, creating the ability to characterize content based on depersonalized keywords. A protected consumption history can be recorded for an entity using depersonalized keywords instead of recording a content descriptor for identifying the content. Depersonalized keywords do not uniquely identify content. Associating depersonalized keywords with an entity does not mean that the entity has used those depersonalized keywords; it only means that the entity has accessed content which has been accessed in the past by other entities in a population using the depersonalized keywords.
1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving, at a server, a respective consumption history of each of a plurality of browsers wherein each respective consumption history comprises a history of accessing at least two different items of content over a network by a respective browser, each item of content characterized by a respective content identifier each item of content accessed from a geographic location;
generating a first map corresponding to a first geographic location by mapping depersonalized keywords submitted to an online search engine from the first geographic location in the past to locate each item of content;
generating a second map corresponding to a second geographic location by mapping depersonalized keywords submitted to the online search engine from the second geographic location in the past to locate each item of content;
converting the consumption histories into protected consumption histories, at the server, by:
recording, for each respective access of an item of content, a set of depersonalized keywords selected according to the geographic location associated with the respective access and the associated geographic location's corresponding map selected from the first map and the second map; and
discarding the content identifiers from the consumption histories;
selecting an archetypical audience from the plurality of browsers, the archetypical audience comprising browsers which have made a purchase;
determining distinctive depersonalized keywords from the protected consumption histories of the archetypical audience, the distinctive depersonalized keywords having a frequency in the protected consumption histories of the archetypical audience that is different from the frequency of the distinctive depersonalized keywords of a standard audience; and
sending, via a network interface, advertising content to a specified browser based on the presence or absence of the distinctive depersonalized keywords in the specified browser's protected consumption history.
2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
customizing the advertising content based on the presence or absence of the distinctive depersonalized keywords in the specified browser's protected consumption history.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein:
the population is limited to browsers with a specific demographic profile.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein:
the population is limited to browsers associated with a specific geographic location.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein:
the standard audience comprises browsers from the plurality of browsers.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein:
the standard audience comprises browsers in a sales funnel.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein:
the standard audience comprises an audience of a website.
8. A system comprising:
a processor; and
a computer readable storage medium storing processor-executable computer program instructions, the computer program instructions comprising instructions for:
receiving, at the processor, a respective consumption history of each of a plurality of browsers wherein each respective consumption history comprises a history of accessing at least two different items of content over a network by a respective browser, each item of content characterized by a respective content identifier each item of content accessed from a geographic location;
generating a first map corresponding to a first geographic location by mapping depersonalized keywords submitted to an online search engine from the first geographic location in the past to locate each item of content;
generating a second map corresponding to a second geographic location by mapping depersonalized keywords submitted to the online search engine from the second geographic location in the past to locate each item of content;
converting the consumption histories into protected consumption histories, at the server, by:
recording, for each respective access of an item of content, a set of depersonalized keywords selected according to the geographic location associated with the respective access and the associated geographic location's corresponding map selected from the first map and the second map; and
discarding the content identifiers from the consumption histories;
selecting an archetypical audience from the plurality of browsers, the archetypical audience comprising browsers which have made a purchase;
determining distinctive depersonalized keywords from the protected consumption histories of the archetypical audience, the distinctive depersonalized keywords having a frequency in the protected consumption histories of the archetypical audience that is different from the frequency of the distinctive depersonalized keywords of a standard audience; and
sending, via a network interface, advertising content to a specified browser based on the presence or absence of the distinctive depersonalized keywords in the specified browser's protected consumption history.
9. The system of claim 8 wherein the instructions further comprise:
customizing the advertising content based on the presence or absence of the distinctive depersonalized keywords in the specified browser's protected consumption history.
10. The system of claim 8 wherein:
the population is limited to browsers with a specific demographic profile.
11. The system of claim 8 wherein:
the population is limited to browsers associated with a specific geographic location.
12. The system of claim 8 wherein:
the standard audience comprises browsers in a sales funnel.
13. The system of claim 8 wherein:
the standard audience comprises an audience of a website.
14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium with computer executable instructions executed by a processor to perform a method, the method comprising:
receiving, at a server, a respective consumption history of each of a plurality of browsers wherein each respective consumption history comprises a history of accessing at least two different items of content over a network by a respective browser, each item of content characterized by a respective content identifier each item of content accessed from a geographic location;
generating a first map corresponding to a first geographic location by mapping depersonalized keywords submitted to an online search engine from the first geographic location in the past to locate each item of content;
generating a second map corresponding to a second geographic location by mapping depersonalized keywords submitted to the online search engine from the second geographic location in the past to locate each item of content;
converting the consumption histories into protected consumption histories, at the server, by:
recording, for each respective access of an item of content, a set of depersonalized keywords selected according to the geographic location associated with the respective access and the associated geographic location's corresponding map selected from the first map and the second map; and
discarding the content identifiers from the consumption histories;
selecting an archetypical audience from the plurality of browsers, the archetypical audience comprising browsers which have made a purchase;
determining distinctive depersonalized keywords from the protected consumption histories of the archetypical audience, the distinctive depersonalized keywords having a frequency in the protected consumption histories of the archetypical audience that is different from the frequency of the distinctive depersonalized keywords of a standard audience; and
sending, via a network interface, advertising content to a specified browser based on the presence or absence of the distinctive depersonalized keywords in the specified browser's protected consumption history.
15. The medium of claim 14 wherein the instructions further comprise:
customizing the advertising content based on the presence or absence of the distinctive depersonalized keywords in the specified browser's protected consumption history.
16. The medium of claim 14 wherein:
the standard audience comprises browsers from the plurality of browsers.
17. The medium of claim 14 wherein:
the standard audience comprises browsers in a sales funnel.
18. The medium of claim 14 wherein:
the standard audience comprises an audience of a website.
19. The medium of claim 14 wherein:
the population is limited to browsers with a specific demographic profile.
20. The medium of claim 14 wherein:
the population is limited to browsers associated with a specific geographic location.