FLAGGING RESOURCE POINTERS DEPENDING ON USER ENVIRONMENT

• US 20110113104A1
• Filed: 11/06/2009
• Published: 05/12/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/06/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Talbot, Mark W., Peterson, Robert R., Bhogal, Kulvir S., DeLuca, Lisa Seacat
• Granted Patent: US 8,346,878 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

Systems, methods and articles of manufacture are disclosed for indicating a hyperlink in a message as being inappropriate for a specified user environment, such as an office or an educational setting. In one embodiment, a message may be received from a sending user and to a receiving user (e.g., by a sending mail client or by a mail server). The message may include a hyperlink. If a message includes a hyperlink determined to be inappropriate for the specified user environment, a property of the message may be set to indicate as such. Optionally, the sending user may be notified that the hyperlink is indicated as being inappropriate for the specified user environment. The receiving user may also be warned not to activate the hyperlink that is determined to be inappropriate.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

configuring one or more computer processors to perform an operation for evaluating a hyperlink included in a message, comprising;

receiving the message from a first user, wherein the message is addressed to a second user and includes the hyperlink;

determining that the hyperlink is inappropriate for a specified user environment;

setting a property of the message to indicate that the hyperlink is determined to be inappropriate for the specified user environment; and

sending the message to the second user.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the determining step is performed by at least one of a mail user agent (MUA), a mail transfer agent (MTA), and a mail delivery agent (MDA).

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the operation further comprises:

notifying the first user that the hyperlink is indicated as being inappropriate for the specified user environment.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the operation further comprises:

receiving a request from the second user to retrieve content using the hyperlink; and

notifying the second user that the hyperlink is indicated as being inappropriate for the specified user environment, responsive to the request.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the operation further comprises:

determining whether the second user is accessing the message in the specified user environment;

wherein the second user is notified that the hyperlink is indicated as being inappropriate only upon determining that the second user is in the specified user environment.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the operation further comprises:

receiving input from the second user specifying to disregard any indication of a hyperlink as being inappropriate;

receiving a request from the second user to retrieve content using the hyperlink; and

retrieving content using the hyperlink without notifying the second user that the hyperlink is indicated as being inappropriate for the specified user environment.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining that the hyperlink is inappropriate for the specified user environment comprises:

retrieving content using the hyperlink;

evaluating keywords in the retrieved content to compute a sensitivity score; and

determining that the computed sensitivity score exceeds a threshold value.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, where the property of the message is stored in a Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) header of the message.

9. A computer-readable storage medium containing a program, which, when executed on a processor, performs an operation for evaluating a hyperlink included in a message, wherein the operation comprises:

receiving the message from a first user, wherein the message is addressed to a second user and includes the hyperlink;

determining that the hyperlink is inappropriate for a specified user environment;

setting a property of the message to indicate that the hyperlink is determined to be inappropriate for the specified user environment; and

sending the message to the second user.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the determining step is performed by at least one of a mail user agent (MUA), a mail transfer agent (MTA), and a mail delivery agent (MDA).

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the operation further comprises:

notifying the first user that the hyperlink is indicated as being inappropriate for the specified user environment.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the operation further comprises:

receiving a request from the second user to retrieve content using the hyperlink; and

notifying the second user that the hyperlink is indicated as being inappropriate for the specified user environment, responsive to the request.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the operation further comprises:

determining whether the second user is accessing the message in the specified user environment;

wherein the second user is notified that the hyperlink is indicated as being inappropriate only upon determining that the second user is in the specified user environment.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the operation further comprises:

receiving input from the second user specifying to disregard any indication of a hyperlink as being inappropriate;

receiving a request from the second user to retrieve content using the hyperlink; and

retrieving content using the hyperlink without notifying the second user that the hyperlink is indicated as being inappropriate for the specified user environment.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein determining that the hyperlink is inappropriate for the specified user environment comprises:

retrieving content using the hyperlink;

evaluating keywords in the retrieved content to compute a sensitivity score; and

determining that the computed sensitivity score exceeds a threshold value.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, where the property of the message is stored in a Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) header of the message.

17. A system, comprising:

one or more computer processors; and

a memory containing a program, which when executed by the one or more computer processors is configured to perform an operation for evaluating a hyperlink included in a message, wherein the operation comprises;

receiving the message from a first user, wherein the message is addressed to a second user and includes the hyperlink;

determining that the hyperlink is inappropriate for a specified user environment;

setting a property of the message to indicate that the hyperlink is determined to be inappropriate for the specified user environment; and

sending the message to the second user.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the determining step is performed by at least one of a mail user agent (MUA), a mail transfer agent (MTA), and a mail delivery agent (MDA).

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the operation further comprises:

notifying the first user that the hyperlink is indicated as being inappropriate for the specified user environment.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the operation further comprises:

receiving a request from the second user to retrieve content using the hyperlink; and

notifying the second user that the hyperlink is indicated as being inappropriate for the specified user environment, responsive to the request.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the operation further comprises:

determining whether the second user is accessing the message in the specified user environment;

wherein the second user is notified that the hyperlink is indicated as being inappropriate only upon determining that the second user is in the specified user environment.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein the operation further comprises:

receiving input from the second user specifying to disregard any indication of a hyperlink as being inappropriate;

receiving a request from the second user to retrieve content using the hyperlink; and

retrieving content using the hyperlink without notifying the second user that the hyperlink is indicated as being inappropriate for the specified user environment.

23. The system of claim 17, wherein determining that the hyperlink is inappropriate for the specified user environment comprises:

retrieving content using the hyperlink;

evaluating keywords in the retrieved content to compute a sensitivity score; and

determining that the computed sensitivity score exceeds a threshold value.

24. The system of claim 17, where the property of the message is stored in a Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) header of the message.