Permissions-based communication management systems and methods

A computer-implemented, permissions-based method of managing network communications, the method comprising:

• storing, in a non-transitory memory, a data structure that is linked to a user account associated with a member, the data structure comprising protected contact information specific to the member;
• in response to receiving a request to communicate with the member submitted by an Initiator:
• (i) conducting a search of the data store to identify the member;
• (ii) transmitting an approval request over a communication network to be reviewed by the member;
• (iii) receiving an approval submitted by the member granting the Initiator permission to communicate with the member;
• and (iv) modifying the data structure to store the permission of the Initiator to communicate with the member;
• determining that the permission of the Initiator to communicate with the member is stored by the data structure in response to an attempt by the Initiator to communicate with the member;
• routing a communication from the Initiator to the member using the protected contact information specific to the member stored by the data structure, without revealing the protected contact information to the Initiator;
• and
• modifying the data structure in response to receiving an update request from the member to change at least a portion of the protected contact information of the member, wherein the portion of the protected contact information that is updated comprises updated protected contact information that is different from the protected contact information, wherein routing the communication from the Initiator to the member comprises using the updated protected contact information without requiring the permissions module to obtain a second permission of the Initiator to communicate with the member.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that when executed by one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform at least:

• storing, in a non-transitory memory, a data structure that is linked to a user account associated with a member, the data structure comprising protected contact information specific to the member;
• in response to receiving a request to communicate with the member submitted by an Initiator:
• (i) conducting a search of the data store to identify the member;
• (ii) transmitting an approval request over a communication network to be reviewed by the member;
• (iii) receiving an approval submitted by the member granting the Initiator permission to communicate with the member;
• and (iv) modifying the data structure to store the permission of the Initiator to communicate with the member;
• determining that the permission of the Initiator to communicate with the member is stored by the data structure in response to an attempt by the Initiator to communicate with the member;
• routing a communication from the Initiator to the member using the protected contact information specific to the member stored by the data structure, without revealing the protected contact information to the Initiator;
• and
• modifying the data structure in response to receiving an update request from the member to change at least a portion of the protected contact information of the member, wherein the portion of the protected contact information that is updated comprises updated protected contact information that is different from the protected contact information, wherein routing the communication from the Initiator to the member comprises using the updated protected contact information without requiring the permissions module to obtain a second permission of the Initiator to communicate with the member.