Patent ID: 8261334

Claim:
A data gathering system, comprising: an Internet-capable appliance associated with a user; a Pin Vault software instance executing from a digital memory media coupled to the appliance; and a Pin Vault file stored in a data repository coupled to the appliance, the Pin Vault file comprising data for authenticating the user to one or more third-party web sites storing information of interest to the user; wherein the Pin Vault software cooperates with an Internet service to provide, from the Pin Vault, data as needed by the Internet service to log onto and authenticate as the user at the one or more third-party web sites storing information of interest to the user, to gather information on behalf of the user, and wherein an individual one of the third-party web sites storing information of interest to the user requires and provides a Completely Automated Public Turning Test to tell Computers and Humans Apart (CAPTCHA) display for authentication, and the Internet service captures the CAPTCHA display and provides it to the Pin Vault software which forwards it to the user, and forwards the user's input into the CAPTCHA display, as a result, to the Internet service for use in authentication at the individual third-party web site.