Patent ID: 7590693

Claim:
A method for processing an electronic message, comprising: receiving a message from a sender, the message comprising at least one recipient to receive the message and including at least one of a restriction identifier, the restriction identifier identifying a subset of recipients from among a set of possible recipients and an access restriction indicating a subset of points of access from among a set of points of access to access the message, wherein the message further comprises an age restriction, the age restriction specifying an age limit of the message; determining whether each identified at least one recipient is within the subset of recipients corresponding to the restriction identifier; and wherein at least one of the following steps is performed: (i) when the message comprises the restriction identifier and an identified at least one recipient is not within the subset of recipients, at least one of not providing access to the message to the identified at least one recipient who is not in the subset of recipients and notifying the sender that an identified at least one recipient is not within the subset of recipients; and (ii) when the message comprises the access restriction and an identified at least one recipient attempts to access the message from a point of access not within the subset of points of access, not providing access to the message to the identified at least one recipient whose point of access is not within the subset of points of access.