Method and system to publish the results of a search of descriptive profiles based on respective publication policies specified by owners of the descriptive profiles, and a profile service provider

摘要

A method for facilitating user-authorized disclosure of profile information to a requesting entity involves the specification of notification and authorization rules pertaining to a composite profile or a collection of profiles. The notification and authorization rules specify appropriate responses to hits that occur as a result of matching operations against the composite profile or collection of profiles. The notification and authorization rules may specify appropriate responses on a profile by profile basis. The rules may further authorize publication of profile information to a requesting entity, or may specify that authorization for the publication of such information be expressly obtained from the subject (or owner) of the profile prior to any publication to the requesting entity. The composite profile, or collection of profiles, may include profile information submitted by a profile subject, or profile information harvested by an external profile owner (e.g., a website). The profile subject, while not being able to contribute or view the content of a profile constructed by a third party is nonetheless thus able to exercise a certain degree of control over the publication of information from such an external profile. A profile service provider may furthermore provide out-sourced profile construction and/or access management to one or more profile owners.