Patent ID: 6944279

Claim:
A method for providing information assistance, comprising: maintaining at least one record which contains contact information concerning a party, the contact information being provided for the record by a user having a first access right with respect to the record, the user granting a second access right with respect to the record to one or more selected users and selecting an option not to disclose the contact information to the selected users; storing identifying information concerning the selected users and the selected status of the option in association with the record; receiving a voice communication from a caller and identifying information concerning the caller, the voice communication including a request for obtaining the contact information concerning the party in the record; retrieving the stored selected status of the option associated with the record; determining, based on the received identifying information and the stored identifying information, whether the caller has the second access right with respect to the record; and offering to establish a voice connection between the caller and the party based on the contact information without disclosing the contact information to the caller when it is determined that the caller has the second access right with respect to the record.