Patent ID: 8032631

Claim:
An information providing apparatus for providing information of a registered first user to a second user, the apparatus comprising: storage means for storing relationship information which defines a relationship between the first user and the second user; setting means for setting a disclosure level as an access level to the information of the first user of the second user, who has transmitted the request received by the receiving means, to any of a first level for permitting access to all items of the information, a second level for permitting access to fewer items of the information than in the first level, and a third level for permitting access to fewer items of the information than in the second level, based on the relationship information stored in the storage means, said setting means changing the disclosure level from the third level to the second level for the second user with respect to the information of the first user when the first user sends a request to the second user, the request being a request for establishment of a predefined specific relationship to the second user; receiving means for receiving a request for obtaining the information of the first user, the request being transmitted from an information processor of the second user after the first user sends the request for establishment of the predefined specific relationship to the second user; selecting means for selecting items to be disclosed to the second user from the information of the registered first user based on the disclosure level of the second user set by the setting means; and transmitting means for transmitting the items selected by the selecting means to the information processor of the second user to allow the second user to decide whether or not to grant the request for establishment of the predefined specific relationship sent by the first user.