Patent ID: 7529940

Claim:
A method implemented in a computer-readable storage medium and to process on a computer to selectively secure data within a message, comprising: receiving the message from a sender where the message includes selective identifications for portions of the data that are associated with selective security for one or more recipients of the message; packaging the data into one or more versions of the message based on the selective identifications, and wherein at least one of the versions is packaged as a link that a particular recipient receives, and wherein the particular recipient has to activate the link to remotely acquire a corresponding portion of the data that the link replaced within that version of the message designated for the particular recipient, and an identity for that particular recipient is authenticated unbeknownst to the particular recipient before the corresponding portion of the data is acquired, and wherein reuse of the corresponding portion is restricted in response to the authentication and the corresponding portion is available to the particular recipient via a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) connection established between the recipient's message receiving application and a remote server application, and wherein the remote server application has the corresponding portion of the data that the link replaced and the corresponding portion of the data replaces the link in the particular recipient's version of the message when the link is activated by the recipient and when the identity of the recipient has been authenticated; and forwarding the one or more versions of the message to one or more of the recipients.