Patent ID: 8335174

Claim:
A method for registering a network information string comprising: receiving at an information string server device a request to register a network information string from a computing device, wherein the network information string is selected from the group consisting of at least a portion of a network name identifier and at least a portion of a media access control (MAC) address and wherein the request comprises owner identifying information; determining by the information string server device whether the network information string has been previously registered with the information string server device; registering by the information string server device the network information string in association with the owner identifying information when the network information string has not been previously registered with the information string server device; granting by the information string server device owner rights, the owner rights limited to content stored in association with the registered network information string and wherein the owner rights comprise, a right to delete content stored in a second record associated with the registered network information string but not associated with the owner identifying information; receiving at the information string server device a request to associate content with the network information string; storing by the information string server device content in association with the network information string in a first record of an information string datastore when the request to associate content includes the owner identifying information associated with the registered network information string; storing by the information string server device the content in association with the network information string in the second record of an information string datastore when the request to associate content does not include the owner identifying information associated with the registered network information string; receiving by the information string server device a request to delete content from the second record; and deleting by the information string server device the content from the second record in response to the request to delete content in accordance with the granted owner rights.