System and method for providing a proxied contact management system

Abstract

A system and method for providing a Proxied Contact Management System (PCMS) so that individual owners of personal contact data may control and manage the access and dissemination of their personal data and also control who may contact them. The owner of personal contact data may securely register the data with a secured information vault of the PCMS and specify which other parties may contact them. In this way, duplication of the personal data is avoided, but at the same time is always current. In use, a second party's device, such as a telephone or a PDA may request that the PCMS, under public key infrastructure (PKI) control, establish a connection with the first party. Once verified, the PCMS may establish a proxy connection between the first and second parties according to the permitted mode of communication defined by criteria established by the first party and managed by the PCMS. In this way, personal contact information, such as a telephone number, is kept secure and private and not provided to the second party.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of providing proxied communications using a proxied contact management system (PCMS), comprising:
 requesting a connection to a communication device of a first party by a communication device of a second party by submitting a public key of the first party from the communication device of the second party to the PCMS;   retrieving, by the PCMS using the public key of the first party, stored information associated with the first party, the stored information including at least one party permitted to contact the first party and, for each of the at least one party permitted to contact the first party, a time period during which the contact may occur; and   verifying that the second party has permission to contact the first party based on the retrieved stored information.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the requesting a connection includes encrypting a message using a public key of the PCMS, and   the message is digitally signed by the second party.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising verifying the second party using at least one of a password, a biometric, and a pass-phrase. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the stored information defines an entity that is permitted to make a contact with the first party. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising revoking a right of the second party to make a contact with the first party. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising, in response to the retrieved stored information indicating that the second party is ineligible to contact the first party, denying the proxied communications. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising, in response to the retrieved stored information indicating that the second party is permitted to contact the first party, establishing the proxied communications via the PCMS between the communication device of the first party and the communication device of the second party. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the communication device of the second party is prevented from receiving any information regarding contact information including at least one of a telephone number and an email address of the first party, other than the public key. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising charging a fee for establishing the proxied communications. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the contact information of the first party is encrypted and associated with the public key of the first party. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising authenticating the first party and the second party, and
 wherein:
 the stored information includes defining which modes of communications are assessable by the second party; 
 the communication devices of the first party and the second party are at least any one of a telephone device, a personal digital assistant device (PDA), and a computer; and 
 the communication device of the first party is configured to avoid storing the contact information of the first party in persistent memory. 
   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the contact information includes both the telephone number and the email address of the first party, and
 wherein the communication devices of the first party and the second party are at least any one of a telephone device, a personal digital assistant device (PDA), and a computer.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the stored information further includes a public key of each of the at least one party permitted to contact the first party, and
 wherein the verifying that the second party has permission to contact the first party based on the retrieved stored information comprises determining that a public key of the second party is included in the retrieved stored information.   
     
     
         14 . A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a computing device to cause the computing device to:
 receive a request for a connection to a communication device of a first party, from a communication device of a second party, the request including a public key of the first party;   retrieve stored information associated with the first party, the stored information including at least one party permitted to contact the first party and, for each of the at least one party permitted to contact the first party, a permitted mode of communication; and   verify that the second party has permission to contact the first party based on the retrieved stored information.   
     
     
         15 . The computer program product of  claim 14 , the program instructions further causing the computing device to, in response to the retrieved stored information indicating that the second party is ineligible to contact the first party, deny the proxied communications. 
     
     
         16 . The computer program product of  claim 14 , the program instructions further causing the computing device to, in response to the retrieved stored information indicating that the second party is permitted to contact the first party, establish the proxied communications between the communication device of the first party and the communication device of the second party. 
     
     
         17 . The computer program product of  claim 14 , wherein the communication device of the second party is prevented from receiving any information regarding contact information including at least one of a telephone number and an email address of the first party, other than the public key. 
     
     
         18 . The computer program product of  claim 14 , the program instructions further causing the computing device to charge a fee for establishing the proxied communications. 
     
     
         19 . The computer program product of  claim 14 , wherein the contact information of the first party is encrypted and associated with the public key of the first party. 
     
     
         20 . A system comprising:
 a hardware processor, a computer readable memory, and a computer readable storage medium associated with a computer device;   program instructions of a contact information storage system configured to store contact information of a first user of a plurality of users;   program instructions of a contact information accessing system configured to access the contact information in response to a request from a second user of the plurality of users, wherein the accessing is controlled based upon an identification of the first user; and   program instructions of a connection control system configured to establish, maintain, and release a connection between the first user of the plurality of users and the second user of the plurality of users based upon stored information including at least one party permitted to contact the first party and, for each of the at least one party permitted to contact the first party, a permitted mode of communication or a time period during which the contact may occur.