Computer-implemented method, a network device and computer program products for tracking OPT-OUT user preferences in a global communication network

1. A computer-implemented method for tracking OPT-OUT user preferences in a global communication network including at least one computing device of a user, a network device, an online system, and a tracking server, the method comprising:

performing, by the at least one computing device of a user whose OPT-OUT preferences are going to be tracked, at least one operation request including a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) request for a service of the online system through said global communication network;

tracking, by the network device, said performed at least one operation request; and

detecting, by the network device, whether said tracked operation request is linked to a tracking mechanism, wherein:

when a result of said detection indicates that the operation request is not linked to a tracking mechanism, the method further comprises bypassing, by the network device, the operation request to said online system without performing any action; or

when the result of said detection indicates that the operation request is linked to a tracking mechanism, the method further comprises:

identifying, by the network device, whether an OPT-OUT or an Opt-In status related to the user is included in the operation request; and

selectively sending, by the network device, the operation request to the tracking server depending on the result of said identification,

wherein identifying the OPT-OUT or an OPT-IN status comprises identifying whether an OPT-OUT cookie indicative of said user preferences is included in the operation request and identifying the OPT-OUT user preferences for said service, and

wherein the user preferences indicate a desire of the user that information about him/her when performing the operation request not be collected,

wherein a result of said identification indicates that the user wants to be OPT-OUT in said service but the operation request does not include an OPT-OUT cookie, the method further comprises:

including, by the network device, in the operation request a public OPT-OUT cookie indicating the OPT-OUT user preferences for said service;

removing, by the network device, information about the user included in the operation request;

sending, by the network device, the operation request to the tracking server; and

tracking, by the network device, a response from the tracking server to the computing device of the user of the operation request for said service, wherein: when the response of the tracking server is unencrypted, the method further comprises including, by the network device, in the response said public OPT-OUT cookie indicating the OPT-OUT user preferences for said service; or when the response of the tracking server is encrypted, the method further comprises:

requesting, by the computing device of the user, at least one unencrypted HTTP request for a hypertext markup language (HTML) page;

capturing and injecting, by the network device, in said HTML page, an additional unencrypted HTTP request to the tracking server; and

upon the network device having captured the additional unencrypted HTTP request to the tracking server, responding, by the network device, to the computing device of the user with the public OPT-OUT cookie of the tracking server indicating the OPT-OUT user preferences for the tracking service, so that all subsequent encrypted HTTP secure (HTTPS) requests to tracking server will also contain the OPT-OUT cookie.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein when the response of the tracking server is encrypted, the method further comprises including the additional unencrypted request as an HTTP request to the tracking server for a transparent image of a certain pixel size at the end of an html body of said HTTP request to online system.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein when the response of the tracking server is encrypted, the method further comprises including the additional unencrypted request as an HTTP request to the tracking server for a transparent image of a certain pixel size in a first line of a head section of an html body of said HTTP request to online system.

4. A method, comprising: receiving, by a network device and from a computing device of a user whose OPT-OUT preferences are going to be tracked, at least one operation request including a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) request for a service of an online system through a global communication network;

tracking, by the network device, the at least one operation request performed by the computing device of the user;

detecting, by the network device, whether the tracked operation request is linked to a tracking mechanism, wherein: when a result of the detection indicates that the operation request is not linked to tracking mechanism, the method further comprises bypassing, by the network device, the operation request to the online system without performing any action; or when the result of the detection indicates that the operation request is linked to a tracking mechanism, the method further comprises:

identifying, by the network device, whether an OPT-OUT or an OPT-IN status related to the user is included in the operation request; and

providing, by the network device and to the computing device of the user, the OPT-OUT cookie based on the response to permit the computing device of the user to provide the OPT-OUT cookie to the server device,

selectively sending, by the network device, the operation request to the tracking server depending on the result of the identification,

wherein identifying the OPT-OUT or an OPT-IN status comprises identifying whether an OPT-OUT cookie indicative of the user preferences is included in the operation request and identifying the OPT-OUT user preferences for the service, and

wherein the user preferences indicate a desire of the user that information about him/her when performing the operation request not be collected,

wherein a result of the identification indicates that the user wants to be OPT-OUT in the service but the operation request does not include an OPT-OUT cookie, the method further comprises:

including, by the network device, in the operation request a public OPT-OUT cookie indicating the OPT-OUT user preferences for the service;

removing, by the network device, information about the user included in the operation request;

sending, by the network device, the operation request to the tracking server; and

tracking, by the network device, a response from the tracking server to the computing device of the user of the operation request for the service, wherein: when the response of the tracking server is unencrypted, the method further comprises including, by the network device, in the response the public OPT-OUT cookie indicating the OPT-OUT user preferences for the service; or when the response of the tracking server is encrypted, the method further comprises:

receiving, by the network device and from the computing device of the user, at

least one unencrypted HTTP request for a hypertext markup language (HTML) page;

capturing and injecting, by the network device, in the HTML page, an additional unencrypted HTTP request to the tracking server; and

upon the network device having captured the additional unencrypted HTTP request to the tracking server, responding, by the network device, to the computing

device of the user with the public OPT-OUT cookie of the tracking server indicating the OPT-OUT user preferences for the tracking service, so that all subsequent encrypted HTTP secure (HTTPS) requests to tracking server will also contain the OPT-OUT cookie.

5. A network device for tracking Opt-Out user preferences in a global communication network, comprising:

one or more processors to:

store Opt-Out user preferences defined by at least one user about information the user wants to share in different tracking mechanisms;

store tracking information of services of an online system;

store a current status of said Opt-Out user preferences when a computing device of the user performs an operation request including an HTTP request for at least one service of the online system through said global communication network;

track the operation request;

detect whether said tracked operation request is linked to a tracking mechanism; and

depending on a result of said detection:

bypass the operation request to said online system when a result of said detection indicates that the operation request is not linked to a tracking mechanism; or

identify whether an Opt-Out or an Opt-In status is included in the operation request when the result of said detection indicates that the operation request is linked to a tracking mechanism; and

selectively send the operation request to a tracking server depending on the result of said identification, wherein

when a result of said identification indicates that the user wants to be OPT-OUT in said service but the operation request does not include an OPT-OUT cookie, the one or more processors are to include in the operation request a public Opt-Out cookie indicating the Opt-Out user preferences for said service and include said public Opt-Out cookie in a response of the operation request for said service performed from the tracking server to the user;

remove information about the user included in the operation request;

send the operation request to the tracking server; and

track a response from the tracking server to the computing device of the user of the operation request for said service; and

wherein when the response of the tracking server is unencrypted, the one or more processors are to include in the response said public OPT-OUT cookie indicating the OPT-OUT user preferences for said service; or

when the response of the tracking server is encrypted, the one or more processors are to include in the operation request, when the tracking server is using encrypted HTTP connections, an additional data field containing an unencrypted HTTP request indicating the OPT-OUT user preferences for said service.

6. The network device of claim 5 , wherein the one or more processors are to: remove information of the user included in the operation request; or include a cookie expiration instruction in the operation request which contains an expiration data for an Opt-Out cookie previously included in the operation request.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, the instructions comprising: one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a system, cause the one or more processors to perform the method of performing, by at least one computing device of a user whose OPT-OUT preferences are going to be tracked, at least one operation request including a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) request for a service of an online system through a global communication network;

tracking, by a network device, said performed at least one operation request; and

detecting, by the network device, whether said tracked operation request is linked to a tracking mechanism, wherein:

when a result of said detection indicates that the operation request is not linked to a tracking mechanism, the method further comprises bypassing, by the network device, the operation request to said online system without performing any action; or when the result of said detection indicates that the operation request is linked to a tracking mechanism, the method further comprises: identifying, by the network device, whether an OPT-OUT or an Opt-In status related to the user is included in the operation request; and selectively sending, by the network device, the operation request to a tracking server depending on the result of said identification,

wherein identifying the OPT-OUT or an OPT-IN status comprises identifying whether an OPT-OUT cookie indicative of said user preferences is included in the operation request and identifying the OPT-OUT user preferences for said service, and

wherein the user preferences indicate a desire of the user that information about him/her when performing the operation request not be collected,

wherein a result of said identification indicates that the user wants to be OPT-OUT in said service but the operation request does not include an OPT-OUT cookie, the method further comprises:

including, by the network device, in the operation request a public OPT-OUT cookie indicating the OPT-OUT user preferences for said service;

removing, by the network device, information about the user included in the operation request;

sending, by the network device, the operation request to the tracking server; and

tracking, by the network device, a response from the tracking server to the computing device of the user of the operation request for said service, wherein:

when the response of the tracking server is unencrypted, the method further comprises including, by the network device, in the response said public OPT-OUT cookie indicating the OPT-OUT user preferences for said service; or when the response of the tracking server is encrypted, the method further comprises:

requesting, by the computing device of the user, at least one unencrypted HTTP request for a hypertext markup language (HTML) page;

capturing and injecting, by the network device, in said HTML page, an additional unencrypted HTTP request to the tracking server; and

upon the network device having captured the additional unencrypted HTTP request to the tracking server, responding, by the network device, to the computing

device of the user with the public OPT-OUT cookie of the tracking server indicating the OPT-OUT user preferences for the tracking service, so that all subsequent encrypted HTTP secure (HTTPS) requests to tracking server will also contain the OPT-OUT cookie.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7 , wherein when the result of said identification indicates that the user wants to be OPT-IN in said service and the operation request includes an OPT-OUT cookie, the network device comprises including a cookie expiration instruction in the operation request, said cookie expiration instruction containing an expiration data for the OPT-OUT cookie previously included in the operation request.