US 2014/0196110 A1 · TRUST-BASED AUTHENTICATION IN A SOCIAL NETWORKING SYSTEM

Abstract

A social networking system determines whether a user is a real public figure or is the correct “public persona” of an individual who is famous within a particular domain. The system selects one or more trusted agents. A trusted agent is a user who has been confirmed or is otherwise trusted within the system. The system traverses the social graph of the trusted agent to score and identify additional users who have a sufficient connection to the trusted agent to authenticate them as other confirmed public personas/figures. The system computes confidence scores of the connections of the trusted agent, considering the strength of the connections and other relevant factors. The system provides confidence scores for one or more target users in the social network based on the confidence scores of the friends or connections connecting the trusted agent and the target user.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A computer implemented method comprising:

using a computer processor to perform a plurality of steps comprising:
selecting a trusted agent, the selected trusted agent being a user who has been verified to be a public figure;
iteratively determining confidence scores for a plurality of users, wherein a user being authenticated is connected to the trusted agent through the plurality of users, the confidence scores being based on a strength of a connection between the trusted agent and each of the plurality of users;
calculating a confidence score of the user being authenticated based on the confidence scores of the plurality of users, the confidence score of the user being authenticated representing an estimate of whether the user being authenticated having a user account that matches a verified public figure;
and
determining whether the user being authenticated is a public figure based on the confidence score of the user being authenticated.

3 more elements

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer program instructions, executed by a computer processor, the computer program instructions comprising instructions for:

selecting a trusted agent, the selected trusted agent being a user who has been verified to be a public figure;
iteratively determining confidence scores for a plurality of users, wherein a user being authenticated is connected to the trusted agent through the plurality of users, the confidence scores being based on a strength of a connection between the trusted agent and each of the plurality of users;
calculating a confidence score of the user being authenticated based on the confidence scores of the plurality of users, the confidence score of the user being authenticated representing an estimate of whether the user being authenticated having a user account that matches a verified public figure;
and
determining whether the user being authenticated is a public figure based on the confidence score of the user being authenticated.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Trust-based authentication in a social networking system

Life of this patent

Trust-based authentication in a social networking system

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20