Patent ID: 8214443

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of providing email message forwarding functionality, the method comprising: providing a web-based email service for a plurality of subscribers, the web-based email service including a website for enabling subscribers to access email messages, the website generating revenue by displaying advertisements when a subscriber accesses email messages; receiving and storing a first email message addressed to a first email address of a subscriber of the web-based email service, the first email message including a body section containing message content; in response to receiving the first email message, automatically generating and sending, to a second email address pre-specified by the subscriber, a second email message that contains a textual summary of the first email message, the second email message lacking at least a portion of the message content of the first email message, wherein the second email message includes a link that is selectable by the subscriber to access the first email message from the website of the web-based email service, the link encoded with information that identifies the first email message; and in response to the subscriber selecting the link in the second email message, serving, by the web-based email service, a web page containing the first email message, the web page further including at least one advertisement to generate advertising revenue for the website of the web-based email service even though the subscriber accessed the first email message through the link in the second email message.