Social Age Verification Engine

• US 20120047560A1
• Filed: 08/17/2010
• Published: 02/23/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: McGeehan, Ryan, Underwood, Edward Moore, Sullivan, Joseph E.
• Granted Patent: US 8,671,453 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/30 Authentication, i.e. establishing the identity or authorisation of security principals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/50 Monitoring users, programs or devices to maintain the integrity of platforms, e.g. of processors, firmware or operating systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2149 Restricted operating environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

A social networking system obtains parental authorization from a parent for a child to access a computing resource, where the parent and the child are users of the social networking system. The child user may request the authorization by identifying a purported parent user. The social networking system attempts to verify the validity of the purported parent user'"'"'s account, the age of the user associated with the purported parent'"'"'s account, and/or the existence of a parent-child relationship between users of the accounts associated with the purported parent and the child. The social networking system makes these determinations, at least in part, using social and transactional information associated with the purported parent user'"'"'s account and the child user'"'"'s account in the social networking system. Upon verification of these items, the social networking system may allow the purported parent to provide authorization responsive to the child'"'"'s request to access the computing resource.

Claims

1. A method for obtaining parental authorization for a computing resource, the method comprising:

receiving a request about whether a child user is allowed to access a computing resource, wherein the request is related to an account in a social networking system of the child user;

receiving information identifying an account in the social networking system of a purported parent user of the child user;

determining a first metric indicative of a validity of the purported parent user'"'"'s account, the first metric determined based on information associated with the purported parent user'"'"'s account in the social networking system;

determining a second metric indicative of an existence of a parent-child relationship between the purported parent user and the child user, the second metric determined based on information associated with the purported parent user'"'"'s account and the child user'"'"'s account in the social networking system; and

determining whether a parent-child relationship exists between the purported parent user and the child user based on the first and second metrics.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

if a parent-child relationship is determined to exist, sending a request for authorization to the purported parent user to allow the child user to access the computing resource.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

responsive to receiving authorization from the purported parent user, granting the requested access to the child user to the computing resource, wherein the computing resource is the social networking system.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

responsive to receiving authorization from the purported parent user, granting the requested access to the child user to the computing resource, wherein the computing resource is a third party system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing resource is the social networking system.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing resource is a website external to the social networking system.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first metric is determined based on information about activities or user interactions associated with the purported parent user'"'"'s account.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first metric is determined based on information from a user session about a user location associated with the purported parent user'"'"'s account.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first metric is determined by presenting a challenge to the purported parent user to authenticate the purported parent user'"'"'s account.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the challenge requires a response based on information about the purported parent user'"'"'s connections or interactions in the computing system.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the second metric is determined based on activities or user interactions associated with the purported parent user'"'"'s account.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the second metric is determined based on common users associated with the purported parent user'"'"'s account and the child user'"'"'s account.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the second metric is determined based on geographical locations associated with the purported parent user and the child user.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the second metric is determined based on common networks associated with the purported parent user and the child user.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the second metric is determined based on requesting that the purported parent user and/or the child user declare a parent-child relationship on a profile associated with the account of the purported parent user or the account of the child user.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a third metric indicative of whether the purported parent user is an adult, the third metric determined based on social information associated with the purported parent user'"'"'s account in the social networking system, and wherein an existence of a parent-child relationship is based on the third metric.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the third metric is determined based on social information about other users connected with the purported parent user'"'"'s account.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the third metric is determined based on activities or user interactions associated with the purported parent user'"'"'s account.

19. A method for obtaining parental authorization for a computing resource, the method comprising:

receiving a request about whether a child user is allowed to access a computing resource;

identifying a parent user who is the purported parent of the child user;

determining that the parent user has a valid account in the computing resource;

for a valid account, determining an existence of a parent-child relationship between the parent user and the child user; and

for an existing parent-child relationship, requesting authorization from the parent user to grant or deny access for the child user to the computing resource.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

receiving a response from the parent user to grant or deny access to the child user; and

responding to the request by granting or denying access to the child user to the computing resource.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising determining the age of the parent user based on information associated with the account of the parent user, and wherein the existence of a parent-child relationship is based on the age of the parent user.

22. A method of obtaining parental authorization for a third party system, the method comprising:

receiving a request about whether a child user is allowed to access the third party system, wherein the request is related to an account in a social networking system of the child user;

identifying a parent user with an account in the social networking system as the purported parent of the child user;

determining that the purported parent user of the social networking system has a valid account;

determining that the purported parent user is the parent of the child user;

requesting the parent user to authorize the child user'"'"'s access to the third party system;

receiving a response from the parent user to allow or deny access to the child user; and

sending the response to the third party system to grant or deny access to the child user to the third party system.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the third party system comprises a website or a portion of a website that is external from the social networking system.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the third party system comprises an online application.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein the third party system comprises a media item.

26. The method of claim 22, wherein the request is sent directly from the child user.

27. The method of claim 22, wherein the request is sent directly from the third party system.