Secure and confidential sharing of digital content

Abstract

Sharing confidential content among devices of participants of digital conversations, the content is provided as an attachment to elements of the digital conversations: registering two or more of the participants; on the devices comprising the attachment: receiving, from the registered participants, a selection of at least one attachment; designating the attachment of the selection as confidential by setting a flag associated with the attachment ON, wherein the attachment to elements is confidential when the flag is set ON, and is not confidential when the flag is set OFF, and displaying a place holder of the attachment; on any of the devices comprising the attachment designated as confidential: authenticating the registered participants; receiving a request to view the content of the attachment designated as confidential from any of the participants; and displaying, without encoding and/or decoding, the content of the attachment designated as confidential only to the authenticated registered participants.

1 . A method of sharing confidential content among communication devices of participants of digital conversations, the content is provided as an attachment to elements of the digital conversations, the communication devices are connected to a network and configured to display the content, the method comprising steps of:
 registering two or more of the participants;   on any of the communication devices comprising the attachment to elements:
 receiving, from the registered participants, a selection of at least one attachment to elements; 
 designating the at least one attachment to elements of the selection as confidential by setting a flag associated with the at least one attachment to elements ON, wherein the at least one attachment to elements is confidential when the flag is set ON, and is not confidential when the flag is set OFF, and 
 displaying a place holder of the at least one attachment to elements; 
   on any of the communication devices comprising the at least one attachment to elements designated as confidential:
 authenticating the registered participants; 
 receiving a request to view the content of the at least one attachment to elements designated as confidential from any of the participants; and 
 displaying, without encoding and/or decoding, the content of the at least one attachment to elements designated as confidential only to the authenticated registered participants. 
   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the network is the Internet and the connection is at least one of wired and wireless. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the attachment and elements are provided by a step selected from one of: creating, downloading via the network, copying from a fixed and/or removable medium, receiving via Bluetooth and/or near field communication technology and receiving via wired and/or wireless network. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of authenticating comprises steps of:
 registering a passcode for uniquely identifying the registered participants; and   supplying the passcode to the communication devices prior to or at a time of performance of the steps of receiving a selection and receiving a request.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising a step of associating a record having at least one flag uniquely with respective of the at least one attachment to elements, wherein the flag being ON indicates that the associated at least one attachment is confidential and the flag being OFF indicates that the associated at least one attachment is not confidential. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising a step of distributing the record to the communication devices of the registered participants. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the step of distributing further comprises steps of:
 communicating information in the record to the communication devices; and upon receipt   establishing, on the communication devices, a local copy of the record.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the information in the local copy of the record indicates if displaying and copying the content provided as the attachment and designated as confidential is allowed or prohibited. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising steps of:
 before the step of designating,   requesting to designate the received selection as confidential; and.   electing for the designation one of: the received selection only and every received selection.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the step of receiving a selection further comprises steps of:
 requesting to set a retention value; and   setting the retention value.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the step of setting the retention value further comprises the step of: electing that the retention value be set for one of: the received selection only and every received selection. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the retention value is selected from at least one of: time and a number of views, the time indicates how long the selection is allowed to exist before it is deleted, and the number of views indicates how many times the selection is to be viewed before it is deleted. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the step of setting the retention value sets a duration of retention in a field of a record uniquely associated with the at least one attachment to elements, the field not null or empty indicates that a retention value is set for the at least one attachment to elements of the selection. 
     
     
         14 . A method of sharing confidential content among communication devices of participants of digital conversations, the content is provided an attachment to elements of the digital conversation, the communication devices are connected to a network and configured to display the content, the method comprising steps of:
 registering two or more of the participants;   on any of the communication devices comprising the attachment to elements:   receiving, from the registered participants, a selection of at least one attachment to elements;   setting a retention value for the at least one attachment to element of the selection;   designating the at least one attachment to elements of the selection as confidential by setting a flag associated with the at least one attachment to elements ON, wherein the at least one attachment to elements of the selection is confidential when the flag is set ON, and is not confidential when the flag is set OFF, and   displaying a place holder of the at least one attachment to elements;   on any of the communication devices comprising the at least one attachment to elements designated as confidential:   authenticating the registered participants;   receiving a request to view the content of the at least one attachment to elements designated as confidential from any of the participants;   displaying, without encoding and/or decoding, the content of the at least one attachment to elements designated as confidential only to the authenticated registered participants; and   deleting the at least one attachment to elements designated as confidential upon expiration of the retention value.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein
 the step of designating the selection as confidential comprises a step of requesting to designate the selection as confidential; and   the step of setting a retention value further comprises a step of requesting to set the retention value.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein
 the step of requesting to designate, elects one of the received selection only, and every received selection to be designated as confidential; and   the step of requesting to set the retention value elects that the retention value be set for one of: the received selection only and every received selection.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein: the step of designating the selection further comprises the step of associating a record having at least one flag uniquely with respective of the at least one attachment to elements, wherein the flag being ON indicates that the associated at least one attachment is confidential and the flag being OFF indicates that the associated at least one attachment of the selection is not confidential; and
 wherein the step of setting a retention value sets the retention value in a field of the record, the field not being null or empty indicates that a retention value is set for the at least one attachment to elements of the selection, wherein the field maintains the running down or decrease of the retention value.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , further comprising a step of distributing the record over the network to the communication devices of the participants. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the step of distributing further comprises steps of:
 communicating the information in the record; and upon receipt   establishing, on the communication devices, a local copy of the record,   wherein the information in the local copy of the record indicates if displaying the content of the designated confidential selection is allowed or prohibited and when to delete the content associated with the designated confidential selection.   
     
     
         20 . A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer readable code, which when executed by a computer performs a method of sharing confidential content among communication devices of participants of digital conversations, the content is provided as an attachment to elements of the digital conversations, the communication devices are connected to a network and configured to display the content, the method comprising steps of:
 registering two or more of the participants;   on any of communication devices comprising the attachment to elements:   receiving, from the registered participants, a selection of at least one attachment to elements;   designating the at least one attachment to elements of the selection as confidential by setting a flag associated with the at least one attachment to elements ON, wherein the at least one attachment to elements is confidential when the flag is set ON, and is not confidential when the flag is set OFF, and   displaying a place holder of the at least one attachment to elements;   on any of the communication devices comprising the at least one attachment to elements designated as confidential:   authenticating the registered participants;   receiving a request to view the content of the at least one attachment to elements designated as confidential from any of the participants; and   displaying, without encoding and/or decoding, the content of the at least one attachment to elements designated as confidential only to the authenticated registered participants.