US Patent Issued to Allstate Insurance on Oct. 21 for "Privacy scout" (Illinois Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 28 -- United States Patent no. 12,450,384, issued on Oct. 21, was assigned to Allstate Insurance Co. (Northbrook, Ill.).

"Privacy scout" was invented by John Parkinson (Wheaton, Ill.), Nicolette De Guia (Chicago) and Margaret K. Striebich (Chicago).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Methods, computer-readable media, software, and apparatuses may assist a consumer in keeping to their preferred privacy preferences when making a purchase online. Differences between the privacy policy of a vender and the privacy preferences of the consumer may be output for display to the consumer, along with alternative vendor recommendations, including vendors having privacy policies more close...