Patent ID: 8812395

Claim:
A method of providing control preferences for a prospective Internet user, the method comprising: establishing, at a client computer, a first account, the settings of the first account being stored in a database in a server computer, the server computer being different from the client computer; establishing a second account by a first user associated with the first account, the settings of the second account being stored in the database; linking the first and second accounts such that control settings of the second account are determined through the first account; establishing a profile for a second user associated with the second account for making a purchase from a service requester, the profile including the control settings and a username and a password established by the first user associated with the first account; establishing, at a merchant computer different from the client and server computers, a merchant account with the service requester to transact payment from the first account; making a purchase request from the second account to the merchant account, the second user associated with the second account entering the username and password; sending the profile for the second user associated with the second account and the purchase request to the first account from the merchant account; validating the authenticity of the profile for the second user associated with the second account by the first account; authorizing, by the first user of the first account, the purchase request for the merchant account to execute; and transacting the purchase request, selected by the second user of the second account, by transferring payment from the first account to the merchant account established with the service requester, wherein the making the purchase request from the second account further includes notifying the first user associated with the first account, wherein the second user of the second account is identified solely by the username and password, and wherein shipping information for the purchase request is provided to the merchant account from the first account according to settings made by the first user, such that the second user cannot change the shipping information.