Patent ID: 7386625

Claim:
A method of controlling transmission of information including the steps of: retrieving information stored on a data processing system, attempting to send the retrieved information from the data processing system to a further data processing system, storing a plurality of privacy items on the data processing system, wherein the plurality of privacy items includes at least one privacy item comprising a query written in a query language, verifying whether at least one privacy item, in the plurality of privacy items, matches the retrieved information, and preventing the sending of the retrieved information if the result of the verification is positive, wherein: verifying whether the at least one privacy item matches the retrieved information includes verifying whether a result of running the at least one privacy item comprising the query on the retrieved information indicates that conditions of the query are satisfied by the retrieved information, each privacy item in the plurality of privacy items has an associated privacy item type, the plurality of privacy items comprise at least two privacy items having different privacy item types, and verifying whether at least one privacy item matches the retrieved information comprises, for each privacy item in the plurality of privacy items: determining a privacy item type associated with the privacy item; and performing the verification based on the privacy item type of the privacy item.