Patent ID: 8925107

Claim:
A method for controlling access to a visual medium in a social network comprising user units connected to a social network site server associated to a database and a distorted visual medium server storing visual media posted by users of the social network, each of the user units comprising a processor and a display, the method comprising the steps of: receiving, by a distorted visual medium server, a visual medium from a user unit of a posting user via a client application and making the visual medium available to at least one entitled user of said social network; receiving, by the distorted visual medium server from the user unit of the posting user, a list of entitled users to be entitled to access the visual medium, said list of entitled users comprising at least one identifier identifying at least one entitled user, said identifier being associated to a parameter defining an access level to the selected visual medium; storing, by the distorted visual medium server, the visual medium in association with the list of entitled users in a memory and applying a distortion effect to the visual medium so as to obtain at least one distorted visual medium degraded according to a predefined degradation level; receiving, by the distorted medium server, a request to download or stream the visual medium to an entitled user identified in the list of entitled users; and transmitting, by the distorted visual medium server, the visual medium distorted according to a degradation level corresponding to the parameter defining the access level associated to the identifier of the entitled user; wherein the distorted visual medium server stores the original visual medium and prepares on the basis of the original visual medium one visual medium distorted with a maximal degradation level and a plurality of recomposition objects allowing reconstructing a plurality of degraded visual media from the maximal degraded visual medium according to different degradation levels, each corresponding to an access level attributed to at least one entitled user of the list of entitled users.