Systems and methods for protecting user privacy in networked data collection

A computing system comprising:

• a communication interface;
• a processor;
• and
• data storage containing instructions executable by the processor for causing the computing system to carry out a set of functions, the set of functions including:
• obtaining a user-data request that is associated with a requesting party;
• making a random determination as to whether or not to skip the user-data request
• if the random determination is to skip the user-data request, then skipping the user-data request;
• if the random determination is to not skip the user-data request, then:
• preparing a first candidate response to the user-data request, the first candidate response being based at least in part on data that is associated with a first user;
• receiving a plurality of additional candidate responses that are respectively based on data that is respectively associated with a plurality of additional users;
• determining a privacy level of the first candidate response based at least in part on the received plurality of additional candidate responses;
• and
• determining that the privacy level exceeds a privacy threshold, and responsively sending, to the requesting party, a user-data response associated with the user-data request.