Patent ID: 7600011

Claim:
A domain name server comprising: data storage containing (i) host data that correlates each of a plurality of domain names with a respective host server network address, including correlating a given domain name with a given host server network address that is associated with a given host server and (ii) whitelist data that correlates at least the given domain name with an intermediation platform network address that is associated with an intermediation platform; and a communication interface for receiving correlation requests and for transmitting correlation responses, wherein when the domain name server receives a correlation request that seeks a network address correlated with the given domain name, the domain name server determines by reference to the whitelist data that the given domain name is correlated with the intermediation platform network address, and responsively returns a correlation response comprising (a) the intermediation platform network address as the network address correlated with the given domain name when the correlation request has a source address not equal to the intermediation platform network address and (b) the given host server network address as the network address correlated with the given domain name when the correlation request has a source address equal to the intermediation platform network address.