Patent ID: 8239916

Claim:
A method of assigning privacy levels to data elements, comprising: automatically assigning, via a device, a predetermined privacy level to a data element when at least one of the following occurs: the data element arrives at the device, the data element is created by the device, and the data element is modified by the device, and wherein the predetermined privacy level is selected by the device from a plurality of privacy levels, each privacy level corresponding to a respective different degree of privacy; storing the data element with the assigned privacy level comprising attaching metadata to the data element; at predetermined time intervals, automatically determining, via the device, if the assigned privacy level for the data element is proper, comprising analyzing the data element via the device to determine what type of data the data element is and determining what degree of privacy the data element should have; wherein analyzing the data element via the device to determine what type of data the data element is comprises determining via the device whether the data element is one of personal medical information, personal legal information, personal financial information, and generally public information; and automatically assigning, via the device, a different privacy level to the data element in response to determining that a currently assigned privacy level for the data element is not proper.