Privacy-preserving data processing for content distribution

A digital component distribution system comprising:

• one or more computers;
• and
• one or more storage devices storing instructions that when executed by the one or more computers, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:
• for each of a plurality of client devices,
• receiving, from an application running on the client device of a user, a digital component request;
• identifying, based on the digital component request, one or more user attributes of the user;
• and
• sending, to the application, a digital component response comprising (i) one or more digital components and (ii) attribute data comprising the one or more user attributes of the user, wherein the application is configured to update, based on the one or more user attributes, accumulated user attribute data stored in a shared storage of the client device in response to receiving the attribute data;
• obtaining, from the shared storage of each of the plurality of client devices, the accumulated user attribute data stored in the shared storage of each client device;
• generating an aggregated user attribute report for one or more aggregation keys using the obtained accumulated user attribute data, comprising, for each of the one or more aggregation keys, obtaining an aggregated data profile that is generated by aggregating the accumulated user attribute data from a subset of the plurality of client devices that have accessed an electronic resource or a digital component identified by the aggregation key, wherein each aggregation key specifies a combination of contextual signals that defines a cohort of users for which user attribute data is aggregated;
• adjusting, based on the aggregated data profiles, one or more distribution parameters for distributing digital components to client devices in response to digital component requests;
• and
• distributing digital components to the client devices based on the distribution parameters.

One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more computers of a digital component distribution system, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

• for each of a plurality of client devices,
• receiving, from an application running on the client device of a user, a digital component request;
• identifying, based on the digital component request, one or more user attributes of the user;
• and
• sending, to the application, a digital component response comprising (i) one or more digital components and (ii) attribute data comprising the one or more user attributes of the user, wherein the application is configured to update, based on the one or more user attributes, accumulated user attribute data stored in a shared storage of the client device in response to receiving the attribute data;
• obtaining, from the shared storage of each of the plurality of client devices, the accumulated user attribute data stored in the shared storage of each client device;
• generating an aggregated user attribute report for one or more aggregation keys using the obtained accumulated user attribute data, comprising, for each of the one or more aggregation keys, obtaining an aggregated data profile that is generated by aggregating the accumulated user attribute data from a subset of the plurality of client devices that have accessed an electronic resource or a digital component identified by the aggregation key, wherein each aggregation key specifies a combination of contextual signals that defines a cohort of users for which user attribute data is aggregated;
• adjusting, based on the aggregated data profiles, one or more distribution parameters for distributing digital components to client devices in response to digital component requests;
• and
• distributing digital components to the client devices based on the distribution parameters.