Techniques for protecting non-public information in a mobile environment
are provided. A request for non-public information about users in a
mobile environment is received. Privacy policies, non-public and optional
public information about the users affected by the request are
determined. An optional privacy impact indicator is determined based on
how satisfying the request increases the current public information about
the users. Crowds of users having similar attribute name/values are
optionally determined. User and optional requestor privacy policies which
associate threshold release criteria such minimum crowd size, minimum
consideration with the non-public information are determined. A privacy
agreement is reached for the disclosure of the requested non-public
information based on the compatibility of the requester and user privacy
policies. Privacy protecting transformations are optionally determined
and applied to create crowds or groups associated with the requested
attribute.