Facebook Extends Fundamental Social Networking Privacy Patent

One of many jobs Friendster (yes Friendster), was managing privacy issues. In 2010, Facebook purchased Friendster’s patents (for $40m!) and as part of the review process looked at extending or enhancing the original applications. The result of this is US Patent 8,219,500 which Chris Lunt @chrislunt and myself are listed as inventors.

System and method for managing information flow between members of an online social network

An online social network is provided in which members of the online social network control who may view their personal information and who may communicate with them. The members control who may view their personal information by setting a visibility preference. A member may not view another member’s full personal profile if the measure of relatedness between the two is greater than the visibility preference of the other member. The members also control who may communicate with them by setting a contactability preference. A member may not communicate with another member if the measure of relatedness between the two is greater than the contactability preference of the other member.

More patents by Nick Galbreath are here