Patent ID: 7783980

Claim:
A method, performed at least in part by a computer, comprising: accessing a contact list including communication identities affiliated with a user; receiving an indication, from the user, of communication identities within the contact list that are to be granted permission to view a digital item over a network of computers; in response to receiving the indication of communication identities that are to be granted permission to view the digital item over the network of computers, storing a list of one or more communication identities that identifies the communication identities that the user has granted permission to view the digital item over the network of computers; accessing, from one or more computer-readable storage devices, the stored list of one or more communication identities that identifies the communication identities that the user has granted permission to view the digital item over the network of computers; accessing presence data for the one or more communication identities identified by the accessed list; identifying, based on the presence data, which of the communication identities of the stored list of one or more communication identities that identifies the communication identities that the user has granted permission to view the digital are currently accessible using the network of computers; and enabling presentation, to the user on a display, of an indication of a subset of the communication identities of the stored list of one or more communication identities that identifies the communication identities that the user has granted permission to view the digital item, the indication being presented in association with the digital item.