The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted Patent No. 5,987,440 to CYVA Research Corporation for the company's Personal Information Security and Exchange Tool.

Utilization of the Trusted Information Utility™, Trusted Network Community™ and Personal Information Agent™ framework and components assure an effective and comprehensive agent-rule based command and control of informational assets in a network computer environment. The concerns of informational privacy and informational self-determination are addressed squarely by the invention affording persons and entities a trusted means to author, command, control personal and/or confidential information in a networked computer environment.

The formation of Trusted Network Communities™ wherein members command and control their digital persona – self-determining digital persona – exchanging or brokering for value the trusted utility of their informational assets is made possible by the invention. The present invention provides for the trusted and regulatory compliant utilization of personal data in electronic markets, providing both communities and individuals aggregate and individual rule-based command and control of the processing of their personal information.

CYVA’s E-Metro™, E-Bazaar™, Personal Information Agent™, Trusted Network Community™ and Trusted Information Utility™ systems and wireless E-Metro Communicator™ products and services represent disruptive technologies [1] and services. These products and services will be licensed to a new class of hybrid ASPs, existing brick and mortar entities and professional service partners. These firms will deploy applications and services meeting the existing and coming regulatory requirements for privacy while offering new Trusted Digital Identity™, Information Asset Management™ and Trusted Interaction Marketing™ services which in concert will mediate [2] the often competing interest in utilizing and controlling the essential currency and resource of our digital economy - accurate, reliable, and timely personal information.

The firm has anticipated the emergence of omnibus privacy regulations governing the collection, processing, and exchange of citizen personal information and its impact upon e-commerce as presently conceived. Privacy, trust, and the security of personal information are clearly the essential consumer concerns and challenges facing e-commerce. The debate in how best to protect and mediate informational privacy and informational self-determination rights (EU Data Protection Directive) and corporate interests are the subjects of intense discussions within the U.S. and amongst digital economies worldwide.