US Patent 7809791 Information aggregation, processing and distribution system

A utility is provided for managing exchanges of information within a context involving multiple users, for example, multi-user network collaboration. The invention enables automatic enforcement of a policy regarding sensitive information. The policy may be negotiated among the users and expressed as multiple rule sets that govern access to a use of sensitive information. The utility also logs activities involving sensitive information to ensure compliance with the policy. These logs can be audited by a third party or automatically processed for audit compliance by the utility. In this manner, an environment of trust is created which encourages fruitful collaboration.