Apparatus, Methods and Computer Program Products for Monitoring Network Activity for Child Related Risks

• US 20090077023A1
• Filed: 09/14/2007
• Published: 03/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T BLS Intelectual Property Inc (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T BLS Intelectual Property Inc (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ruckart, John, Myers, Jerome
• Granted Patent: US 8,296,843 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/062 related to network traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/216 Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1416 Event detection, e.g. attack signature detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide apparatus, method and/or computer program products for monitoring internet activity. In some method embodiments, a network is searched to detect network data indicative of actual and/or potential contact with a child. A report is generated that identifies a source of detected data and the report is sent to a responsible party.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring internet activity, comprising:

searching a network to detect network data indicative of actual and/or potential contact with a child;

generating a report that identifies a source of detected data; and

sending the report to a responsible party.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the report comprises a baseline report that includes network addresses corresponding to previous postings of the detected data and/or an update report that includes network addresses of data detected following a generation of a previous report.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein generating a report that identified a source of detected data comprises:

comparing a source of detected data with an approved list of contacts; and

generating a report that identifies an unapproved contact that is not included on the approved list of contacts.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the searching comprises monitoring the network at regular time intervals to detect recent network postings of detected data and wherein the generating comprises generating a report of network addresses and dates of recent network postings of detected data.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the detected data comprises a name, an age, contact information, an identification number, and/or an alias.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, in response to the report, instructions from the responsible party, the instructions configured to reduce network related risk to the child.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising monitoring communications of the child to detect data inclusive of private information corresponding to the child and/or the child'"'"'s family.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising monitoring communications of the child to determine an identity of a correspondent.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising comparing the identity to a list of approved correspondents to determine if the correspondent is approved and generating an alert report if the correspondent is not approved.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the communications comprise internet-based communications and the report comprises a network address and/or a date of posting.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the communications comprise mobile electronic device communications and the report comprises a communications log configured to contain data corresponding to communications sent from and/or received by the device.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the communications comprise mobile electronic device communications and the report comprises a location log corresponding to geographic locations of the device during a specified time interval.

13. An apparatus for monitoring internet activity, comprising:

network search logic, configured to detect a posting, on a network, of data indicative of contact with a child;

report generation logic, configured to generate a report corresponding to the detected data, the report comprising a network address corresponding to the posting and a date of the posting; and

transmission logic, configured to send the report to a responsible party.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising:

comparison logic configured to determine a recent posting of detected data relating to the child by comparing a previous report of detected data with a recent report of detected data; and

update logic, configured to generate an update report corresponding to the recent posting of detected data.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising monitoring logic configured to monitor communications of the child and generate a communications report corresponding to communications, wherein communications with a correspondent can be evaluated.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising a list of approved correspondents, wherein an identity of the correspondent is compared to the list and wherein the communications report includes the identity of the correspondent when the correspondent is not on the list of approved correspondents.

17. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising means for monitoring a portable electronic device used by the child, wherein the report comprises a communications log configured to contain data corresponding to communications sent from and received by the device and/or a location log corresponding to geographic locations of the device.

18. A computer program product for monitoring internet activity, comprising:

a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to search a network to detect data indicative of contact with a child;

computer readable program code configured to generate a report that includes information corresponding to the detected data; and

computer readable program code configured to transmit the report to a responsible party.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the computer readable program code configured to search a network to detect a network posting of data in comprises:

computer readable program code configured to monitor communications of a child to determine an identity of a correspondent; and

computer readable program code configured to compare the identity to a list of approved correspondents to determine if the correspondent is approved.

20. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the computer readable program code configured to generate a report that includes information corresponding to the network posting comprises:

computer readable program code configured to generate a baseline report configured to include network addresses corresponding to the network postings of the personal data; and

computer readable program code configured to generate an update report configured to include network addresses corresponding to recent network postings.