Patent ID: 7216147

Claim:
In a computing system that provides presence information to a plurality of service providers that are configured to provide the computing system access to a plurality of networks, the presence information corresponding with a user's actual presence on the plurality of networks, a method for enabling the user to control the presence information that is provided to the plurality of service providers for publication, the method comprising: an act of providing a user interface in a user computing system, the user interface being configured to receive presence information of a user for each of a plurality of service providers; an act of displaying presence information at the user interface, the presence information corresponding with a user's actual presence on each of the plurality of networks with said service providers, and wherein the act of displaying the presence information further includes displaying the plurality of service providers with the displayed presence information; an act of enabling the user to provide user input at the user interface to edit the displayed presence information without affecting the user's actual presence on the plurality of networks; and an act of providing the displayed presence information to the plurality of service providers for publication, wherein different displayed presence information is provided to each of the plurality of service providers.