Privacy verification tool

A system comprising:

• a database having stored thereon a program written in a declarative language used to enforce a set of privacy policies;
• a verification module to retrieve the program and generate a verification representation of the program;
• and
• a search module to search over the verification representation to determine if the program satisfies the set of privacy policies.

A computer-implemented method comprising:

• retrieving a storage and privacy service (SPS) program expressing one or more access control rules defining data access within a social networking system;
• receiving one or more assertions to test compliance of the SPS program in view of a set of privacy constraints;
• generating, using a processor, a logical representation of the SPS program based on the one or more assertions, wherein the logical representation includes Boolean variables;
• and
• searching over assignments to the Boolean variables in the logical representation of the SPS program to determine if the SPS program satisfies the privacy constraints.