Advocate for facilitating verification for the online presence of an entity

• US 8,544,091 B2
• Filed: 12/18/2012
• Issued: 09/24/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dun & Bradstreet Corp., DUN & Bradstreet Incorporated (Dun & Bradstreet Corp.), Hoover's Incorporated (Dun & Bradstreet Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Credibility Corp. (Dun & Bradstreet Corp.)
• Inventors: Stibel, Jeffrey M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Barron, Jr., Gilberto
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nobahar, Abdulhakim
• Application Number:
  US13/718,227
• Publication Number:
  US 20130160089A1
• Time in Patent Office: 280 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 726/22
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/043 using or handling presence information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/126 the source of the received data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1408 by monitoring network traffic monitoring network traffic per se H04L43/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users

Abstract

Some embodiments provide an advocate system to facilitate automated online presence verification for different entities on behalf of the entities. The advocate system places service providers on notice that profiles and information hosted by them and that form the online presence for a particular entity should first be verified with that particular entity. The advocate system further facilitates online presence verification by 1) directly or indirectly connecting the service providers that are placed on notice with the appropriate authoritative entities to facilitate the verification of the profiles and information, 2) selectively targeting service providers hosting profiles and information that are unverified, 3) automatedly verifying hosted profiles and information based on a verified profile lists and verified information that authoritative entities provide to a central repository. In so doing, the advocate system prevents potential damage to the authoritative entity'"'"'s credibility while also mitigating potential for fraud, identity theft, etc.

Claims

1. For a verification system comprising at least one server with one or more processors and non-transitory computer-readable memory, a computer-implemented method for facilitating verification of an online presence of a particular entity, the computer-implemented method comprising:

tracking a first set of service providers that each host a different verified online presence of the particular entity;

identifying a second set of service providers that each host a different unverified online presence of the particular entity, wherein an unverified online presence comprises at least one of information and an account relating to the particular entity that has not been verified by the particular entity, and wherein the first set of service providers are different than the second set of service providers;

providing, from the verification system to each service provider of the second set of service providers, notice identifying the unverified online presence of the particular entity hosted by the service provider;

verifying at least one of the information and the account from the unverified online presence of the particular entity that is hosted by a particular service provider of the second set of service providers by contacting the particular entity;

confirming with at least one of the particular entity and the particular service provider that the online presence of the particular entity hosted by the particular service provider has been verified; and

updating the first set of service providers by including the particular service provider in response to the confirmation.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising passing notification of the second set of service providers that host an unverified online presence of the particular entity to the particular entity, the notification informing the particular entity of at least one service provider from the second set of service providers that hosts an online presence of the particular entity that potentially contains outdated, inaccurate, or falsified information.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising receiving updated verified information from the particular entity for dissemination to each service provider in the first set of service providers hosting a verified online presence of the particular entity.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 further comprising disseminating the updated verified information to each service provider in the first set of service providers on behalf of the particular entity, said disseminating updating verified information that is presented through the online presence of the particular entity at each service provider in the first set of service providers.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising notifying the particular service provider that the online presence hosted by the particular service provider is verified.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 further comprising providing a graphical badge to the particular service provider for display in conjunction with the online presence of the particular entity at the particular service provider, said graphical badge identifying a verified status of the particular entity'"'"'s online presence at the particular service provider.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising eliciting verification of the unverified online presence of the particular entity at the particular service provider as a result of the notice.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein eliciting verification of the unverified online presence comprises restricting an entity other than the particular entity from claiming an unverified account.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein eliciting verification of the unverified online presence comprises suspending an unverified account at the particular service provider.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein eliciting verification of the unverified online presence comprises claiming an unverified account on behalf of the particular entity.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein eliciting verification of the unverified online presence comprises initiating removal of unverified information from the particular service provider.

12. A computer-implemented method performed by a verification system comprising a server with at least one processor, the computer-implemented method for facilitating verification of an online presence of a particular entity, the computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a request to verify the online presence of the particular entity, the request comprising at least one identifier identifying the particular entity;

verifying the particular entity as an authoritative source for verification of the particular entity'"'"'s online presence by (i) querying an entity database using the at least one identifier, (ii) obtaining an entity record from the entity database comprising previously verified contact information for the particular entity, (iii) passing a verification code to the particular entity using the previously verified contact information, and (iv) receiving the verification code from the particular entity;

identifying a set of service providers that host part of the particular entity'"'"'s unverified online presence by (i) searching a plurality of service providers using the at least one identifier and (ii) determining the set of service providers from the plurality of service providers that host at least one of information relating to the particular entity and an account of the particular entity that form the online presence of the particular entity;

providing, from the verification system to each service provider of the set of service providers, notice that the service provider hosts an unverified online presence of the particular entity, wherein the unverified online presence comprises at least one of information and an account relating to the particular entity that has not been verified by the particular entity; and

verifying each online presence of the particular entity that is hosted by the set of service providers by (i) contacting the particular entity using the at least one identifier, (ii) confirming with the particular entity, information or an account that is associated with each online presence of the particular entity that is hosted by each service provider of the set of service providers and (iii) providing verified information that has been confirmed with the particular entity to any service provider of the set of service providers that hosts at least one of information and an account that could not be confirmed with the particular entity.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 further comprising providing the verified contact information of the particular entity in conjunction with providing the notice, the verified contact information identifying the particular entity as the authoritative source for verifying the unverified online presence of the particular entity hosted by the service provider receiving the notice.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 further comprising providing contact information of an advocate in conjunction with providing the notice, the contact information identifying the advocate as a source for verifying the unverified online presence of the particular entity on behalf of the particular entity.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 further comprising submitting a verification badge to the particular service provider for presentation in conjunction with the online presence for said particular entity, wherein said verification badge indicates that the online presence hosted by the particular service provider is verified.

16. For a verification system comprising at least one server with one or more processors and at least one non-transitory computer-readable memory, a computer-implemented method for facilitating verification of an online presence of a particular entity, the computer-implemented method comprising:

obtaining, by the verification system, verified information from the particular entity, the verified information comprising information that the particular entity approves for inclusion as part of the particular entity'"'"'s online presence;

identifying a set of a plurality of service providers hosting an online presence of the particular entity;

scraping information from the online presence of the particular entity at each service provider of the set of the plurality of service providers;

comparing, by the verification system, the obtained verified information with the information that is scraped from the online presence of the particular entity at a particular service provider; and

notifying, by the verification system, the particular service provider that it hosts an unverified online presence of the particular entity when the obtained verified information does not match with the information that is scraped from the online presence of the particular entity at the particular service provider, wherein notifying comprises passing to the particular service provider, a set of the verified information that does not match to the information that is scraped from the online presence of the particular entity at the particular service provider, the set of verified information being passed to the particular service provider to cure inaccuracies with the online presence of the particular entity hosted by the particular service provider.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16 further comprising automatically updating on behalf of the particular entity, the online presence of the particular entity at the particular service provider using the verified information.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 16 further comprising confirming that the online presence of the particular entity at the particular service provider contains verified information and submitting a verification seal to the particular service provider for display in conjunction with the online presence of the particular entity, the verification seal indicating that the online presence of the particular entity contains information verified by the particular entity.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 16 further comprising providing verification confirmation to the particular service provider when the verified information matches with the information that is scraped from the online presence of the particular entity at the particular service provider.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 16 further comprising notifying the particular entity of information that is scraped from the online presence of the particular entity at the particular service provider that does not match to the verified information.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein obtaining the verified information from the particular entity comprises scraping a set of websites of the particular entity that contain the verified information.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 16 further comprising receiving a list of service providers hosting a verified online presence of the particular entity.

23. The computer-implemented method of claim 22, wherein identifying the set of the plurality of service providers comprises identifying at least one service provider that is not in the list of service providers and that hosts an online presence of the particular entity.