Method, system and computer program product for controlling data access through question and answer mechanism

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions for providing personal information of a user, the one or more sequences of one or more instructions including instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the following steps:

• receiving a request for the personal information from a requestor that has been validated, wherein the requestor is different from the user;
• selectively retrieving one of a plurality of questions supplied by the user, wherein the selectively retrieved question is selected based on a type of the requestor, the type of requestor specifying a relationship with the user;
• receiving a response to the question from the requestor;
• comparing the response to an answer supplied by the user, the answer corresponding to the question, wherein the response and the answer supplied by the user are content-based;
• selectively forwarding one or more portions of the personal information to the requestor based on a degree of match including a partial match between the response and the answer,
• wherein the user specifies the degree of match, and the degree of match relates to a selectable degree of accuracy of the content of the response as compared to the content of the answer supplied by the user,
• wherein the request, the response, and the specification of the degree of match are communicated through a user interface, and
• wherein the user interface comprises one or more fields for establishing, by the user, the questions and corresponding answers for access to the user's personal information based on the type of the requestor, the fields containing selections for specifying the degree of accuracy required for a response to a particular question as compared with the corresponding answer to the particular question that grant the access, the selections for specifying the degree of accuracy including an exact answer, a close answer, a part of the answer and anything.

A system configured to provide personal information of a user, the system comprising:

• a database configured to store the personal information and a plurality of questions and respective corresponding answers, the questions and the respective corresponding answers being supplied by the user for controlling access to the stored personal information, wherein each question corresponds to a type of the requestor, the type of requestor specifying a relationship with the user, the requestor being different from the user;
• a server configured to receive a request for the personal information from a client that has been validated, wherein the server is further configured to selectively retrieve one of the questions from the database and to receive a response to the question from the client, the server comparing the response to the answers and selectively providing access to one or more portions of the personal information based on a degree of match including a partial match with the answer, wherein the selectively retrieved question is selected based on the type of the requestor and wherein the response and the answer supplied by the user are content-based;
• wherein the user specifies the degree of match, and the degree of match relates to a selectable degree of accuracy of the content of the response as compared to the content of the answer stored in the database,
• wherein the request, the response, and the specification of the degree of match are communicated through a user interface, and
• wherein the user interface comprises one or more fields for establishing, by the user, the questions and corresponding answers for access to the user's personal information based on the type of the requestor, the fields containing selections for specifying the degree of accuracy required for a response to a particular question as compared with the corresponding answer to the particular question that grant the access, the selections for specifying the degree of accuracy including an exact answer, a close answer, a part of the answer and anything.

A method for supporting access of personal information of a user, the method comprising:

• generating, by the user, a plurality of questions and associated respective answers for controlling access to the personal information, wherein each of the plurality of questions is associated with a type of a requestor, the type of requestor specifying a relationship with the user, the requestor being different from the user;
• and
• transmitting the plurality of questions, associated respective answers, and an indication of the type of requestor for each question for storage at a remote database,
• wherein one of the questions is selectively retrieved from the remote database and presented to a requestor that has been validated upon the requestor submitting a request to access the personal information, the requestor outputting a response to the question, wherein the response is compared with the stored respective answer, the requestor being permitted to access one or more portions of the personal information according to a degree of matching including a partial match with the answer, wherein the selectively retrieved question is selected based on the type of the requestor and wherein the response and the answer supplied by the user are content-based,
• wherein the user specifies the degree of match, and the degree of match relates to a selectable degree of accuracy of the content of the response as compared to the content of the stored respective answer,
• wherein the request, the response, and the specification of the degree of match are communicated through a user interface, and
• wherein the user interface comprises one or more fields for establishing, by the user, the questions and corresponding answers for access to the user's personal information based on the type of the requestor, the fields containing selections for specifying the degree of accuracy required for a response to a particular question as compared with the corresponding answer to the particular question that grant the access, the selections for specifying the degree of accuracy including an exact answer, a close answer, a part of the answer and anything.

A method for accessing information of a user, the method comprising:

• validating a requestor of the user information, wherein the requestor is different from the user;
• determining type of the requestor;
• prompting the requestor with one of a plurality of questions that are supplied by the user, wherein the one question is selected among the plurality of questions based on the type of the requestor;
• receiving a response to the one question from the requestor, wherein the response and the answer supplied by the user are content-based;
• and
• forwarding a portion of the user information to the requestor based on a qualitative degree of match including a partial match between the response and a predetermined answer provided by the user,
• wherein the user specifies the degree of match, and the degree of match relates to a selectable degree of accuracy of the content of the response as compared to the content of the predetermined answer,
• wherein the request, the response, and the specification of the degree of match are communicated through a user interface, and
• wherein the user interface comprises one or more fields for establishing, by the user, the questions and corresponding answers for access to the user's personal information based on the type of the requestor, the fields containing selections for specifying the degree of accuracy required for a response to a particular question as compared with the corresponding answer to the particular question that grant the access, the selections for specifying the degree of accuracy including an exact answer, a close answer, a part of the answer and anything.