Patent ID: 7337465

Claim:
A peer-to-peer communication apparatus for performing one-to-one communication with another communication apparatus via an Internet Protocol (IP) network, comprising: first means for performing an encryption process and/or an authentication process with respect to a packet; second means for acquiring, from a peer's communication apparatus specified by a user of the peer-to-peer communication apparatus, presence information including information for judging a communication security environment of said peer's communication apparatus and security policy information including an encryption rule and an authentication rule, each to be applied to packets by said peer's communication apparatus; and third means for displaying said presence information and said security policy information such that said user judges propriety of the security policy information based on the presence information, and for allowing the user to partly change the security policy information, wherein said first means processes a packet to be transmitted to said peer's communication apparatus in accordance with a security policy approved by the user.