Systems and methods for implementing a privacy firewall

A method for implementing a privacy firewall to selectively restrict access to private electronic data, the method comprising:

• receiving a query from a remote computer, the query comprising a request to access one or more portions of a corpus of private electronic data, the corpus of the private electronic data comprising non-private information and private information;
• analyzing, by a processing device, the corpus of private electronic data to identify the non-private information and the private information, the analyzing comprising:
• determining whether the corpus of private electronic data was obtained from sources on an excluded list, and
• if the corpus of private electronic data was obtained from sources on the excluded list, tag the corpus of private electronic data as denied for use outside the privacy firewall;
• tagging, by the processing device, the non-private information as allowed for use outside the privacy firewall;
• determining, by the processing device, that the private information comprises non-private elements, wherein the non-private elements are portions of the private information or additional data that is derived from the private information that are not private;
• extracting, by the processing device, the non-private elements from the private information, wherein a remainder of the private information is unextracted;
• tagging, by the processing device, the non-private elements as information allowed for use outside the privacy firewall;
• tagging, by the processing device, the unextracted elements as denied for use outside the privacy firewall;
• and
• providing, by the processing device, one or more of the non-private information and the non-private elements of the private information to the remote computer located outside of the privacy firewall.

A system for implementing a privacy firewall to selectively restrict access to private electronic data, the system comprising:

• a data storage repository behind the privacy firewall, the data storage repository comprising a corpus of private electronic data that has been tagged as non-private information, private information not to be distributed, non-private elements of private information to be distributed, or depersonalized private information, wherein the non-private elements are portions of the private information or additional data that is derived from the private information that are not private;
• a processing device;
• and
• a non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium, wherein the non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium comprises one or more programming instructions that, when executed, cause the processing device to:
• receive a search string from a remote computer located outside the privacy firewall, wherein the search string comprises a question;
• search the data storage repository for one or more portions of the private electronic data that correspond to the search string;
• if the one or more portions of the electronic data contain the non-private information, non-private elements of the private information to be distributed, or the depersonalized private information, provide a response to the remote computer, wherein the response contains information contained within the one or more portions of the electronic data contain the non-private information, the non-private elements of the private information to be distributed, or the depersonalized private information;
• and
• tagging a remainder of the private information that is not the non-private information, non-private elements of the private information to be distributed, or the depersonalized private information as denied for use,
• wherein, if the one or more portions of the private electronic data is obtained from sources on excluded list, the one or more portions of data are tamed as denied for use.