Patent ID: 7827245

Claim:
A method for securing display of sensitive electronic messages to prevent third parties from viewing sensitive content, the method comprising: receiving substitute content from a message recipient to be displayed in place of sensitive content for any incoming message designated as sensitive or, alternatively or additionally, receiving an indicia from the message recipient to be displayed with any incoming message designated as sensitive, wherein the substitute content is related to a surrounding environment of the message recipient and is unrelated to the sensitive content; designating a message as including sensitive content, wherein the designating is performed by at least one of a message sender, the message recipient and an intermediate system, wherein messages originating from at least one of a specific email address and an instant messaging screen name are designated as sensitive, and wherein the intermediate messaging system automatically designates the messages originating from at least one of the specific email address and the instant messaging screen as sensitive; and upon receipt of a message designated as including sensitive content, displaying a message window that includes substitute content different from the sensitive content, wherein the substitute content includes an indicia that the sensitive content is not displayed, wherein if the indicia is alternatively received, the indicia is part of the sensitive content and indicates that the message includes sensitive content, wherein if the indicia is additionally received, the indicia part of the sensitive content, indicates that the message includes sensitive content and is included in the message after the substitute content is received.