WO2009070885A1

WO2009070885A1 - Secure social networking system and method

Info

Publication number: WO2009070885A1
Application number: PCT/CA2008/002123
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jeff Booth; Sanjay Maharaj; Christopher William Lake Nickerson Nickerson
Original assignee: Sharemylife Inc.
Priority date: 2007-12-05
Filing date: 2008-12-05
Publication date: 2009-06-11

Abstract

A social networking web site is provided in which a user can control content at his or her web site by providing a rating for content placed by the user on the site. The user will also provide ratings to other members of the social networking site so that such members will only be able to view content that has a lower rating than that of the member. An additional feature is that the user may place content in a secure event driven storage area, in which the content will be inaccessible until the event occurs, which causes emails with links to the content to be sent to designated recipients.

Description

Secure Social Networking System and Method

Related Applications

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application 60/992,590 filed December 5, 2007 which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

Field of the Invention

This invention relates to methods and systems for sharing information, and more particularly for controlling the information shared with a content rating system and for creating a virtual message for delivery to the recipient(s) at a later date in a secure environment.

Background of the Invention

There are several web sites that provide social networking. Social networking web sites allow users of the site to post content to the web site about themselves, such as images, text, videos, etc. for viewing by others. On many of these sites, the content can be viewed or experienced by all visitors to the site, or may only be available to those who have been invited to access the material by the poster (often referred to as "friends").

A difficulty with these sites is that the access to a user's posted content tends to be very open, and the user therefore lacks privacy as their personal and private lives collide on the web. The user is not able to keep content private that may result in a collision of their personal lives, for example, with their professional lives, potentially leading to a very wrong impression on either side.

For this reason, many users choose not to be part of any social networking sites because current social networking sites do not allow users to rate and manage their content. Users do not have the ability to sort what is viewable to friends within their network apart from a total rejection or acceptance of a user as a friend within their network, which means that all the posted content is accessible by all such friends.

The selection of other users as either "friend" (as selected by the user) or "not friend" (those other users not selected by the user), results in situations where a user's content may be made available to those "friends" that the user does not want to access the content. An example would be a user who is a young student who has posted photographs of a "night out" with friends. The student may not want certain family members, who are designated as "friends" to have access to such photos, but would gladly share the photos with classmates. Instead the student is forced to share with all of the "friends" or none.

Another issue with posted content is that it is made available as soon as it is posted, or shortly thereafter. Users do not have the ability to post content to the web site that will only be made available after a certain period of time or a certain "triggering event" has taken place.

Summary of the Invention

The invention provides a means to control the disclosure of content by providing a scale whereby users can provide a ranking to other members of the community, and to content posted by the user to the site. Only members with a ranking equal to or greater than the content are permitted to access such material.

Other means to control the content is provided, by allowing the user to secure the content from access by other users until a certain amount of time has elapsed or a triggering event taken place.

A solution to this problem provided by the invention is the use of a content rating system. A user has the ability to assign each and every piece of content a rating, such as from "1" to "10" on a rating bar where "1" is closed and "10" is open. The user may than assign a rating to their friends and family members in their network.

A storage system accessible via a web site is provided, including a piece of content stored in a secure environment, accessible by a user providing a username and a password; an email address associated with the piece of content; an event associated with the piece of content; wherein when the event occurs, an email is sent to the email address, and the email includes a link to the piece of content, and the password, thereby allowing the recipient of the email to access the piece of content. The event may be the passage of an amount of time selected by the user after storing the piece of content in the secure environment. Alternatively, the event may be the death of the user, the death of a relative of said user, or the birth of a relative of the user.

A method of storing a piece of content in a server is provided, including: providing storage space to a user, the storage space accessible via a username and password; the piece of content placed, by the user, in the storage space; associating by the user, an event associated with the piece of content; associating, by the user, an email address with the piece of content; and on occurrence of the event, sending an email to the email address, the email including a link to the piece of content and the password, permitting access to the piece of content to a recipient of the email.

A method of a providing a user space to a community of users is provided, including: a) providing a designated user storage space on a web site hosted on a server, the space containing a piece of content uploaded by the designated user, the designated user associating a first rank with the piece of content; b) on permitting access to the user space by a member of the community of users, the designated user associating a second rank with the member; c) if the second rank equals or exceeds the first rank, allowing the member to access the piece of content at the user space; and d) if the second rank does not exceed the first rank, not displaying the piece of content when the member access the user space.

The first rank may be selected from a scale of 1 to 10, and the second rank is selected from a scale of 1 to 10. When the second rank is associated with the member, the second rank is not disclosed to the member. The user space may be associated with genealogy.

A system for providing a user space to a community of users is provided, including: a) a web site hosted on a server, the web site accessible by a designated user within the community of users; the web site containing a piece of content provided by the designated user within a storage space associated with the designated user; b) a first rank associated with the piece of content, the first rank provided by the designated user; c) a second rank associated with a member within the community of users, the member permitted to access the space; wherein if the second rank equals or exceeds the first rank associated with the piece of content, the member can access the piece of content at the space and if the second rank does not exceed the rank associated with the piece of content, not displaying the piece of content when the member access the space.

Description of the Figures

Figure 1 is a block diagram showing the network environment of the system according to the invention;

Figure 2 is an embodiment of a home web page according to the invention;

Figure 3 is an embodiment of a registration page according to the invention;

Figure 4 is an embodiment of a storage selection screen according to the invention;

Figure 5 is an embodiment of a web page showing the authentication process to create a secure storage space;

Figure 6 is an embodiment of a web page showing the introduction to a user about to create a secure storage space.

Figure 7 is an embodiment of a web page according to the invention, showing the use of a work space within the secure storage space;

Figure 8 is an embodiment of a web page according to the invention showing the work space in use;

Figure 9 is an embodiment of a web page according to the invention allowing the association of content to an event;

Figure 10 is an embodiment of a web page according to the invention allowing the association of emails to the content;

Figure 11 is an embodiment of a web page according to the invention allowing the user to further secure the event driven storage space;

Figure 12 is an embodiment of a web page showing the event driven storage spaces created by the user; Figure 13 is a flow chart showing the steps in creating an even drive storage space according to the invention; and

Figure 14 is flow chart showing the process by which content is ranked to control access by other users.

Detailed Description of the Invention

The following discussion provides a brief and general description of a suitable computing environment in which various embodiments of the system may be implemented. Although not required, embodiments will be described in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as program applications, modules, objects or macros being executed by a computer. Those skilled in the relevant art will appreciate that the invention can be practiced with other computing system configurations, including hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor- based or programmable consumer electronics, personal computers ("PCs"), network PCs, mini-computers, mainframe computers, and the like. The embodiments can be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks or modules are performed by remote processing devices, which are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.

A computing system may be used as a server including one or more processing units, system memories, and system buses that couple various system components including system memory to a processing unit. Computing system will at times be referred to in the singular herein, but this is not intended to limit the application to a single computing system since in typical embodiments, there will be more than one computing system or other device involved. Other computing systems may be employed, such as conventional and personal computers, where the size or scale of the system allows. The processing unit may be any logic processing unit, such as one or more central processing units ("CPUs"), digital signal processors ("DSPs"), application-specific integrated circuits ("ASICs"), etc. Unless described otherwise, the construction and operation of the various components are of conventional design. As a result, such components need not be described in further detail herein, as they will be understood by those skilled in the relevant art. The computing system includes a system bus that can employ any known bus structures or architectures, including a memory bus with memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus. The system also will have a memory which may include read-only memory ("ROM") and random access memory ("RAM"). A basic input/output system ("BIOS"), which can form part of the ROM, contains basic routines that help transfer information between elements within the computing system, such as during startup.

The computing system also includes non-volatile memory. The non-volatile memory may take a variety of forms, for example a hard disk drive for reading from and writing to a hard disk, and an optical disk drive and a magnetic disk drive for reading from and writing to removable optical disks and magnetic disks, respectively. The optical disk can be a CD-ROM, while the magnetic disk can be a magnetic floppy disk or diskette. The hard disk drive, optical disk drive and magnetic disk drive communicate with the processing unit via the system bus. The hard disk drive, optical disk drive and magnetic disk drive may include appropriate interfaces or controllers coupled between such drives and the system bus, as is known by those skilled in the relevant art. The drives, and their associated computer-readable media, provide nonvolatile storage of computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules and other data for the computing system. Although computing system may employ hard disks, optical disks and/or magnetic disks, those skilled in the relevant art will appreciate that other types of non-volatile computer-readable media that can store data accessible by a computer may be employed, such a magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, digital video disks ("DVD"), Bernoulli cartridges, RAMs, ROMs, smart cards, etc.

Various program modules or application programs and/or data can be stored in the system memory. For example, the system memory may store an operating system, end user application interfaces, server applications, and one or more application program interfaces ("APIs").

The system memory also includes one or more networking applications, for example a Web server application and/or Web client or browser application for permitting the computing system to exchange data with sources, such as clients operated by users and members via the Internet, corporate Intranets, or other networks as described below, as well as with other server applications on server computers such as those further discussed below. The networking application in the preferred embodiment is markup language based, such as hypertext markup language ("HTML"), extensible markup language ("XML") or wireless markup language ("WML"), and operates with markup languages that use syntactically delimited characters added to the data of a document to represent the structure of the document. A number of Web server applications and Web client or browser applications are commercially available, such those available from Mozilla and Microsoft.

The operating system and various applications/modules and/or data can be stored on the hard disk of the hard disk drive, the optical disk of the optical disk drive and/or the magnetic disk of the magnetic disk drive.

A computing system can operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more client computing systems and/or one or more database systems, such as one or more remote computers or networks. The computing system may be logically connected to one or more client computing systems and/or database systems under any known method of permitting computers to communicate, for example through a network such as a local area network ("LAN") and/or a wide area network ("WAN") including, for example, the Internet. Such networking environments are well known including wired and wireless enterprise-wide computer networks, intranets, extranets, and the Internet. Other embodiments include other types of communication networks such as telecommunications networks, cellular networks, paging networks, and other mobile networks. The information sent or received via the communications channel may, or may not be encrypted. When used in a LAN networking environment, the computing system is connected to the LAN through an adapter or network interface card (communicatively linked to the system bus). When used in a WAN networking environment, the computing system may include an interface and modem (not shown) or other device, such as a network interface card, for establishing communications over the WAN/Internet.

In a networked environment, program modules, application programs, or data, or portions thereof, can be stored in the computing system for provision to the networked computers. In one embodiment, the computing system is communicatively linked through a network with TCP/IP middle layer network protocols; however, other similar network protocol layers are used in other embodiments, such as user datagram protocol ("UDP"). Those skilled in the relevant art will readily recognize that these network connections are only some examples of establishing communications links between computers, and other links may be used, including wireless links.

While in most instances the computing system will operate automatically, where an end user application interface is provided, an operator can enter commands and information into the computing system through an end user application interface including input devices, such as a keyboard, and a pointing device, such as a mouse. Other input devices can include a microphone, joystick, scanner, etc. These and other input devices are connected to the processing unit through the end user application interface, such as a serial port interface that couples to the system bus, although other interfaces, such as a parallel port, a game port, or a wireless interface, or a universal serial bus ("USB") can be used. A monitor or other display device is coupled to the bus via a video interface, such as a video adapter (not shown). The computing system can include other output devices, such as speakers, printers, etc.

The system and method according to the invention are for use with a web site operated on a computing system, accessible over the Internet by users, who may post material on the web site and have a limited ability to view material posted on the web site by other users. A web site is a collection of web pages, hosted on one or more servers.

Users access the web site hosted by a server using software such as a browser operating on a computing system.

Users typically connect to web sites on the Internet using hyperlinks, also referred to as links. By clicking on a link, a user directs the browser to open a window on the monitor of the computing system showing the web site associated with the link. The link may be text, or may be graphically represented in other terms, such as a button.

As seen in Figure 1, server 10 is accessible by clients 200 via network 100, which may be the Internet. Server 10 includes web site 20, from which users may navigate and use the system. Database 30 includes content provided by users, as well as the web site contents, and other information provide by users, for examples, passwords and usernames. The home page of web site 20 is shown in Figure 2. The home page includes an area for users to log into the site by providing a user name and password. Also provided is a link to allow users to register with web site 20. Other features on the home page include links to other social networking sites to allow integration with "Friends" and their equivalents at such sites, and a link to allow the user to send messages to their family and friends to encourage them to register.

An embodiment of a registration page is shown in Figure 3. The registration page includes personal information about the user, such as name, date of birth, and email address. Also, the user will need to provide a password and security questions and answers should the user need to obtain the password from the system at a later date. The registration page also asks users to provide a string of numbers and letters for use as an additional security measure, as explained below. Finally the user is asked to type some text (to prevent bots and the like from registering) and indicate they would like to sign up for the secure electronic storage system according to the invention, referred to in the Figures as a "Virtual Lockbox".

Figure 4 displays a storage selection screen according to the invention. In an embodiment of the invention, users are entitled to a certain amount of storage space at no charge, but if they wish for more space, they must pay an annual fee, increasing as the amount of storage increases. If the user elects to pay, they may do so through credit card or other conventional means. The provision of space to the user is represented as step 1300 in Figure 13. If a user tries to exceed their allotted storage capacity they are prompted to purchase additional storage.

Figure 5 displays a web site providing additional security to access a secure web storage space. The user, besides providing their email address and password, must also complete the text string. A portion of the text string is provided to the user, so that only a few characters need to be entered by the user (two characters in the embodiment shown in Figure 5).

Figure 6 displays a web page presented when the user is about to begin adding content to the secure web storage space. Several navigation tools are present to a user. Work space 600 is prominently displayed to allow a user a location to read messages, and download and manipulate content. Menu 610 allows users to determine information about their account. First navigation tool 620 allows a user to create a new secure storage space, and second navigation tool 630 allows a user to view an already existing secure storage space. If the user has been granted access to content within other user's secure storage sites, this will be indicated in second navigation tool 630. The addition of content is represented as step 1310 in Figure 13.

Figure 7 displays a user selecting a secure storage space (named "Graduation 2008") to manipulate. The contents of the Graduation 2008 space are represented in work space 600. Figure 8 displays a selected image 800 from work space 600 enlarged to its normal size.

Figure 9 displays a window showing a first step by which a user associates selected content with an event. The event may be date driven, i.e. on a certain date the event is deemed to occur, for example a graduation date, or a birthday; or may be based on the passage of time, e.g. one week or one month. Alternatively, the event may be based on an unpredictable (in terms of timing) event, such as a divorce, or a death.

In the case of an event in which the system will not be able to determine if the event has passed (e.g. a death), the user could encode access to the contents within a document, such as a will, in a code, which when executed, delivers the email to the intended recipients. Alternatively, the main page of the web site may include an area in which the executor of the will can enter a code, which will inform the system that the event has occurred and that email messages can be sent to the appropriate recipients. The association of an event with the content is represented in step 1320 of Figure 13.

Figure 10 shows a second step in which users may associate a list of email addresses to the content. The email addresses may have a separate activation date, so that if the event occurs prior to the activation date, no email is sent to email addresses not yet activated. The association of email addresses with the content is represented as step 1320 in Figure 13.

Figure 11 is a further step in the creation of the secure storage space in which the user provides an event driven password to secure the content with the associations with email addresses and the event. Figure 12 shows a number of event driven storage spaces, represented by an icon 1200, for selection by a user. The user may change the appearance of each icon.

When the event occurs (step 1340 of Figure 13), the event driven storage space is moved out of "wait" mode (step 1350 of Figure 13), and email messages are sent to the email addresses associated with the content and the event. These email addresses include both a link and the corresponding password for the particular storage space. The link, when selected, links the user to the content associated with the email address and the event. The content is available to the recipient of the email address after the link has been selected and the password entered.

The content may be one or more pieces or files of video, audio, images or documents. When the event driven secure storage space is created by a user, the user may send an email to the recipierιt(s) indicating that the content has been stored and explaining how the recipient should obtain or expect to receive the password on the occurrence of the event. The recipient may reply to the email to indicate they are aware of the event driven secure storage space.

After the event driven storage space is created a report is generated and may be printed and stored, for example in a safe, by the user. This report may include information on how to access the event driven storage space, and hence should be stored in a location unlikely to be accessed until after the event occurs (for example attached to a will).

Additional features may include:

1. Sending reminder emails to recipients to keep their email addresses updated. A recipient may update their email address by replying to the reminder with the new email address in the subject line.

2. When sending emails to recipients, notifying the user (via email) that the emails have been sent. Also notifying the user when the recipients access the content.

3. While the system has been described in the context of web pages accessible via a computer, the invention is also applicable in other contexts, such as mobile telephones. Controlling Content

In an embodiment of the invention, the web site also allows registered users to contribute content for public viewing to a portion of the web site dedicated to the user, herein referred to as the "user space" (step 1400 of Figure 14). Visitors to the user space will not have access to event driven secure storage areas unless via an email sent by the system.

The user may contribute content to his user space for access by other users. When content is contributed by a user, that user may indicate a rank for such content (step 1410). The ranks may be a scale from 1 to 10, a letter grade, or the like. The rank indicates a level of accessibility for the content, for example a ranking of 10 may mean that the material is accessible and open to all to view in the user's "user group" and a ranking of 1 means that the material is closed to all users and not viewable by any user except the creator/owner of that user space. Alternatively, the rank could be reversed so that a rank of "10" is closed to all but the contributing user, whereas a rank of "1" means any of the user's "friends" may access the content.

Other users of the web site may be invited into a user's "user group" (step 1420), and on acceptance, become "members" of the user group and are permitted access to at least some content on the user space. When joining such a user group, the user provides a ranking for the new member (step 1440), if they are not previously ranked (step 1430). Preferably, the ratings available for members correspond to the ratings for content, for example if the content is rated from 1 to 10, then members are also given a rating from 1 to 10.

When a member of the user group accesses the user space, only content of an equal or lesser ranking is displayed to the member. For example, if the user is rated as a "5" on a scale of 1 to 10, only content with a rank of "5", "6", "7", "8", "9", or "10" is apparent to the user. Content ranked "1", "2", "3", or "4" is not displayed to the user and is inaccessible.

As members do not know the rank allotted to them by the host of a user space, they are unaware of any "missed" content. This avoids hurt feelings of members who may feel excluded or of a lower rank than others. As their rank is kept secret, so is the existence of content which they cannot access, there is no sense of "losing" something.

When content is first posted by a user, or another user accepted into the user's "user group", a default rating may be provided by the system. Such a default is typically an "average" value, for example a "5" in a scale of "1" through "10", but alternatively, an extreme value, for example "1" or "10" in such a scale may be used.

Example

As mentioned, all contents and members will be assigned a specific rating by the user. In an embodiment of the invention, a rating of "1" means that the content is closed to all and only viewable by the user and a rating of "10" will mean that the content is open and viewable to all the members.

When a particular piece of content (such as audio, video, image or document) is assigned a rating of, for example, "4", only members assigned with a rating of "4" or less will be able to view that particular piece of content. A member with a rating of "6" will not be able to view content with a "4" rating, but will only be able to view content which has a rating of "6" or higher.

An example to illustrate the rating system follows:

A user, John Smith, creates content, namely, a story under a "Story of My Life" module on his recent life experience trip to Europe. John uploads three videos and six photos (images) from his trip and rates them as follows:

• Video 1 - Rating of 4

• Video 2 - Rating of 1

• Video 3 - Rating of 6

• Images 1 to 4 - Rating of 5

• Image 5 - Rating of 10

• Image 6 - Rating of 7 John now invites his brother Tom, cousins Rick and Tim, and friends Bob, Joe and Jack to read his story and rates them as follows:

• Brother Tom - Rating of 2

• Cousin Rick - Rating of 10

• Cousin Tim - Rating of 5

• Friend Bob - Rating of 2

• Friend Joe - Rating of 7

• Friend Jack - Rating of 4

Tom will be able to observe videos 1 and 3 and all the images from 1 to 6, since Tom is rated at a "2" which means that he will be able to see any content with a rating of "2" and above. Rick will only be able to see image 5, Tim will only be able to see images 1 to 4, Bob will be able to see all content except video 2, Joe will only be able to see images 5 and 6 and Jack will be able to see all content except video 2.

In an embodiment of the invention, the web site may be related to genealogy, although the invention is not limited to such a use, and may, for example provide member groups within a single family. In such an embodiment a family tree may be used to show both group members and non-members that are part of the same family (as presumably, not all family members will be users of the web site). Each user that is also a member may contribute material about themselves in their user space, accessible via the family tree.

As a user space is based around a family tree in this embodiment, each user space may show the family tree from their viewpoint. Also, in cases where members of the family are not users, for example they are deceased; a wiki space may be arranged for such family members, in which active users who are family members may contribute material to the wiki space. Such an embodiment, allows for example, children and grandchildren to provide material in a wiki space devoted to a deceased parent or grandparent. Such material may be ranked as described above, by the contributing member. In such a case an administrator may have to select a rank for each family member, perhaps using a neutral formula, for example age, or distance of relation.

As will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the various embodiments described above can be combined to provide further embodiments. Aspects of the present systems, methods and components can be modified, if necessary, to employ systems, methods, components and concepts to provide yet further embodiments of the invention. For example, the various methods described above may omit some acts, include other acts, and/or execute acts in a different order than set out in the illustrated embodiments.

The present methods, systems and articles also may be implemented as a computer program product that comprises a computer program mechanism embedded in a computer readable storage medium. For instance, the computer program product could contain program modules. These program modules may be stored on CD- ROM, DVD, magnetic disk storage product, flash media or any other computer readable data or program storage product. The software modules in the computer program product may also be distributed electronically, via the Internet or otherwise, by transmission of a data signal (in which the software modules are embedded) such as embodied in a carrier wave.

For instance, the foregoing detailed description has set forth various embodiments of the devices and/or processes via the use of examples. Insofar as such examples contain one or more functions and/or operations, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that each function and/or operation within such examples can be implemented, individually and/or collectively, by a wide range of hardware, software, firmware, or virtually any combination thereof. In one embodiment, the present subject matter may be implemented via Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs). However, those skilled in the art will recognize that the embodiments disclosed herein, in whole or in part, can be equivalently implemented in standard integrated circuits, as one or more computer programs running on one or more computers (e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more computer systems), as one or more programs running on one or more controllers (e.g., microcontrollers) as one or more programs running on one or more processors (e.g., microprocessors), as firmware, or as virtually any combination thereof, and that designing the circuitry and/or writing the code for the software and or firmware would be well within the skill of one of ordinary skill in the art in light of this disclosure.

In addition, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the mechanisms taught herein are capable of being distributed as a program product in a variety of forms, and that an illustrative embodiment applies equally regardless of the particular type of signal bearing media used to actually carry out the distribution. Examples of signal bearing media include, but are not limited to, the following: recordable type media such as floppy disks, hard disk drives, CD ROMs, digital tape, flash drives and computer memory; and transmission type media such as digital and analog communication links using TDM or IP based communication links (e.g., packet links).

Further, in the methods taught herein, the various acts may be performed in a different order than that illustrated and described. Additionally, the methods can omit some acts, and/or employ additional acts.

These and other changes can be made to the present systems, methods and articles in light of the above description. In general, in the following claims, the terms used should not be construed to limit the invention to the specific embodiments disclosed in the specification and the claims, but should be construed to include all possible embodiments along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. Accordingly, the invention is not limited by the disclosure, but instead its scope is to be determined entirely by the following claims.

While certain aspects of the invention are presented below in certain claim forms, the inventors contemplate the various aspects of the invention in any available claim form. For example, while only some aspects of the invention may currently be recited as being embodied in a computer-readable medium, other aspects may likewise be so embodied.

Claims

I claim:

1. A storage system accessible via a web site, comprising:

a) a piece of content stored in a secure environment, accessible by a user providing a username and a password;

b) an email address associated with said piece of content;

c) an event associated with said piece of content; and

wherein when said event occurs, an email is sent to said email address, and said email includes a link to said piece of content, and said password, thereby allowing a recipient of said email to access said piece of content.

2. The storage system of claim 1 wherein said event is the passage of an amount of time selected by said user after storing said piece of content in said secure environment.

3. The storage system of claim 1 wherein said event is the death of said user.

4. The storage system of claim 1 wherein said event is the death of a relative of said user.

5. The storage system of claim 1 wherein said event is the birth of a relative of said user.

6. A method of storing a piece of content in a server, comprising:

a) providing storage space to a user, said storage space accessible via a username and password;

b) the piece of content placed, by said user, in said storage space;

c) associating by said user, an event associated with said piece of content;

d) associating, by said user, an email address, with said piece of content; and e) on occurrence of said event, sending an email to said email address, said email including a link to said piece of content and a password, permitting access to said piece of content to a recipient of said email.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein said event is the passage of an amount of time selected by said user after storing said piece of content in said secure environment.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein said event is the death of said user.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein said event is the death of a relative of said user.

10. The method of claim 6 wherein said event is the birth of a relative of said user.

11. A method of a providing a user space to a community of users, comprising:

a) providing a designated user storage space on a web site hosted on a server, said space containing a piece of content uploaded by said designated user, said designated user associating a first rank with said piece of content;

b) on permitting access to said user space by a member of said community of users, said designated user associating a second rank with said member;

c) if said second rank exceeds said first rank, allowing said member to access said piece of content at said user space; and

d) if said second rank does not exceed said first rank, not displaying said piece of content when said member access said user space.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said first rank is selected from a scale of 1 to 10.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein said second rank is selected from a scale of 1 to 10.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein when said second rank is associated with said member, said second rank is not disclosed to said member.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein said user space is associated with genealogy.

16. A system for providing a user space to a community of users, comprising: a) a web site hosted on a server, said web site accessible by a designated user within said community of users; said web site containing a piece of content provided by said designated user within a storage space associated with said designated user;

b) a first rank associated with said piece of content, said first rank provided by said designated user;

c) a second rank associated with a member within said community of users, said member permitted to access said space;

wherein if said second rank exceeds said first rank associated with said piece of content, said member can access said piece of content at said space and if said second rank does not exceed said rank associated with said piece of content, not displaying said piece of content when said member access said space.