Patent ID: 8924485

Claim:
A method for electronic communication, the method comprising: electronically getting a telecommunications number of a proposed recipient of an email message, the email message also having at least one message originator; automatically and electronically submitting the telecommunications number for use as an index into a database of public keys, the database of public keys configured to include any one or more of the following: an X.509 database, an X.500 database, a database built on-the-fly by one or more individual message originators, a text file maintained by a client email program, a text file maintained by a client browser, a relational database, a hierarchical object-oriented database, a database built by an Internet service provider, a database built by a telecommunications service provider, a database maintained by a regional telephone company, a database maintained by a competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC), a database maintained by an incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC), a database maintained on an email gateway, a database located on a client machine, a database located on a server machine, a database located on a web site, or a database located on within a telecommunications number detector; automatically and electronically obtaining from the database of public keys a public key which corresponds to the telecommunications number; and automatically and electronically providing the public key for use in at least one of the following: encryption, authentication, a secure transaction; wherein the method provides the public key which corresponds to the telecommunications number of the proposed recipient of the email message without requiring a negotiation between the proposed recipient and the message originator(s) to transfer the public key.