Patent ID: 6889213

Claim:
A computer-readable storage medium, comprising computer instructions for: providing an electronic business card file Web site to a user; allowing the creation of an electronic business card file by the user using said Web site, said creation comprising: allowing the user to enter information into a plurality of fields in the electronic business card file; storing said information; and sending an authentication email to the user, wherein a reply to said authentication email is required to complete said creation; allowing the user to search for one or more records; allowing the user to view said records and to export electronic business card data from records in a private list of the user to a file readable by a contact management program, wherein another user associated with a record in the private list has extra privileges granted by the user; if said creation is completed, allowing the setting of privacy levels by the user for each said field, said setting comprising selecting one of more than two privacy levels so that the user controls data shown in each said field to another user based upon the selected privacy level for each said field, wherein the user can set the privacy level to Private, Semi-Private, or Public for each particular field in the electronic business card file, wherein the user can set the privacy level to Private, Semi-Private, or Public by selecting a Private icon, Semi-Private icon, or Public icon, respectively, for a corresponding field in the electronic business card file; allowing the user to indicate a location of the user prior to an expiration date; and sending an electronic mail by the user to a recipient, wherein the electronic mail contains a signature hypertext link that permits the recipient to access the electronic business card file Web site in order to create a new electronic business card file for the recipient and to access information in a permitted field of the electronic business card file of the user; wherein the electronic business card file Web site is implemented by use of two front-end web servers and a database server that is accessed by the two front-end web servers.