Patent ID: 7886343

Claim:
In a distributed computing system including one or more Internet access points, an authentication service, and a third party client system, a method of authenticating the third party client system prior to providing Internet access via one of the Internet access points to the third party client system, the method comprising: receiving, at the authentication service, information regarding at least a user of the third party client system via private Internet access or a first Internet access point; transmitting to the third part client a single action module, the single action module including mechanisms configured to allow the third party client to implement a single action initiation of Internet access, the single action module being directly provided by the authentication service to the third party client; transmitting a unique client identifier to the third party client system by the authentication service in response to receiving the information; storing, at the authentication service, at least part of the information; receiving, at the authentication service, subsequent to transmitting the unique client identifier to the third party client system, an authorization request from the third party client system via a second Internet access point, the authorization request being initiated in response to a single action being performed by a user of the third party client system without the manual submission of any identification information by the user, the authorization request including the unique client identifier for identifying the third party client system; verifying that the third party client system associated with the unique client identifier is authorized to access the Internet via one of the Internet access points; and providing Internet access to the third party client system associated with unique client identifier via one of the Internet access points.