Remote Provisioning of Privacy Settings in a Home Multimedia Network

A method for enabling data to be securely shared over a coaxial cable network, the method comprising:

• receiving a PIN from a controller over a first network operating on the coaxial cable network;
• storing the PIN in a memory of a terminal;
• authenticating the terminal using the PIN for shared-key authentication to thereby grant access to a second network operating on the coaxial cable network;
• and
• communicating with authenticated terminals on the second network to thereby securely share data.

A multimedia server, comprising:

• a receiver for receiving, from a service provider over a wide area network, multimedia content and a PIN, whereby the PIN is commonly shared with the multimedia server and client terminals disposed on a local area network;
• a memory for storing the media content and PIN received from the wide area network;
• a network interface arranged for sharing a portion of the multimedia content with one or more authenticated client terminals on the local area network;
• and
• authentication logic for authenticating a client terminal seeking access to the local area network based on the commonly shared PIN.

A computer-readable medium containing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors in an electronic device, performs a method comprising:

• receiving a PIN from a first network;
• requesting access to a second network using the received PIN to participate in an authentication process, the first network and second network sharing a portion of a common physical infrastructure and each operating at a different frequency on the shared portion of common physical infrastructure;
• and
• accessing data stored on a device disposed on the second network when the requested access to the second network is granted.