Patent ID: 8561133

Claim:
A method for preserving privacy related to networked media consumption activity comprising the steps of: defining multiple source privacy zones; associating a privacy standard with each source privacy zone, including one or more frequency criteria to govern the storage of datasets including information associated with networked media consumption activity collected from the source privacy zone; receiving a transaction request comprising a networking protocol address, in association with networked media consumption activity, from a client device over a network at a target location by a networked privacy system; selecting at least one source privacy zone from the multiple source privacy zones for the client device, wherein the at least one source privacy zone is selected, at least in part, based on the networking protocol address; accessing information at least in part by referencing the networking protocol address, the information comprising at least one characteristic having at least one characteristic value, thereby creating a dataset comprising an association between the client device's networked media consumption activity and the at least one characteristic having at least one characteristic value; pre-processing the dataset to comply with the privacy standards associated with the at least one source privacy zone selected for the client device; discarding the networking protocol address; and, storing the pre-processed dataset in a filtered database on a physical storage device at a storage location and coupled to the networked privacy system.