Patent ID: 8490202

Claim:
A method for masking data in communications between a first data processing node and a second data processing node, comprising: assigning a user identifier and a tag to private data associated with a user, wherein the user identifier and the tag are associated with the private data in a data structure associated with the second data processing node, and wherein the tag comprises a numerical value associated with one or more methods of communication by which a user contact prefers to be contacted; receiving, by a first entity, a first request for a first list from the first data processing node; sending to a second entity, in response to the first entity receiving the first request, a second request for a second list of user identifiers associated with a corresponding one or more users and sending to a third entity, a third request for one or more tags assigned to private data of the one or more users; merging, in response to the first entity receiving the second list and the one or more tags, the second list with the one or more tags in order to generate the first list; sending the first list to the first data processing node; receiving a communication request comprising a first user identifier and a first tag each selected from the first list, wherein the first user identifier and the first tag are associated with a first user, from the first data processing node, using the first user identifier and the first tag to derive first private data associated with the first user in accordance with the data structure; and using the derived first private data to process the communication request, such that the first private data is not stored on the first data processing node.