System and method for enabling the originator of an electronic mail message to preset an expiration time, date, and/or event, and to control processing or handling by a recipient

A method of controlling an electronic mail message transmitted over a network, comprising the steps of:

• before transmission of the electronic mail message over the network, attaching to the message a date, time, or event, the occurrence of which will cause said electronic mail message and all designated incarnations thereof to expire;
• encrypting said electronic mail message so that it can only be viewed by using a viewer applet capable of decrypting the message and installed on a recipient computer, said viewer applet preventing decryption of said electronic mail message unless controls set by a sender of the electronic mail message are implemented, said viewer applet thereby preventing viewing of said message after the occurrence of said time, date, or event;
• initially transmitting said electronic mail message over said network to a central electronic mail server;
• storing said electronic mail message at said electronic mail server;
• and,
• upon request by the recipient, encrypting said electronic mail message, streaming the encrypted electronic mail message to said viewer applet, and decrypting said electronic mail message as it is received by the viewer applet so as to display said message without storing it at said recipient computer.

A method of controlling an electronic mail message transmitted over a network, comprising the steps of:

• before transmission of the electronic mail message over the network, attaching to the message a date, time, or event, the occurrence of which will cause said electronic mail message and all designated incarnations thereof to expire;
• encrypting said electronic mail message using a public key associated with a private key held by the viewer applet to decrypt said message so that the electronic mail message can only be viewed by using a viewer applet capable of decrypting the message and installed on a recipient computer, said viewer applet preventing decryption of said electronic mail message unless controls set by a sender of the electronic mail message are implemented, said viewer applet thereby preventing viewing of said message after the occurrence of said time, date, or event;
• causing said viewer applet to store said electronic mail message in encrypted form on said recipient computer and, upon the occurrence of said date, time, or event, erase said electronic mail message;
• causing said viewer applet to forward said electronic mail message in encrypted form to a second recipient computer;
• and
• upon the occurrence of said time, date, or event, causing a copy of said viewer applet installed on said second recipient computer to erase said electronic mail message.

An electronic mail system, comprising:

• a first computer on which is installed message origination software and which is connected to a network capable of carrying an electronic mail message, said message origination software being arranged to enable an originator of the message to attach message processing limitations to the message before it is sent;
• at least one recipient computer also connected to said network;
• a viewer applet arranged to cooperate with said central server to implement said processing limitations;
• and
• a central electronic mail server connected to said network, said message origination software being arranged to send said electronic mail message to said electronic mail server, said electronic mail server being arranged to store said electronic mail message and, upon request by the recipient, encrypt said electronic mail message and stream it to said viewer applet, and said viewer applet being arranged to decrypt said viewer applet as it is streamed so as to display said message,
• wherein said viewer applet and central electronic mail server cooperate to prevent decryption and viewing of said encrypted electronic mail message by said recipient unless said processing limitations are implemented, and
• wherein:
• because said message can only be viewed by having said viewer applet decrypt said message as it streamed to the viewer applet by the central electronic mail server, so that a recipient must use said viewer applet to view said message, and
• because said viewer applet implements said processing limitations,
• said message cannot be viewed without said processing limitations.

A method of controlling an electronic mail message transmitted over a network, comprising the steps of:

• before transmission of the electronic mail message over the network, attaching limitations on processing and handling of the electronic mail message by a recipient;
• initially transmitting said electronic mail message over said network to a central electronic mail server;
• storing said electronic mail message at said electronic mail server;
• upon request by the recipient, encrypting said electronic mail message, streaming the encrypted electronic mail message to a viewer applet installed on said recipient computer, and decrypting said electronic mail message as it is received by the viewer applet so as to display said message without storing it at said recipient computer;
• and
• preventing said decrypting of the electronic mail message and viewing of the message by the recipient unless said processing limitations attached to the message before transmission of the message are implemented,
• wherein:
• because said message can only be viewed by having said viewer applet decrypt said message as it streamed to the viewer applet by the central electronic mail server, so that a recipient must use said viewer applet to view said message, and
• because said viewer applet implements said processing limitations,
• said message cannot be viewed without said processing limitations.

A computer program for handling electronic mail, comprising:

• a mail origination portion arranged to permit the originator to select a date, time, or event, the occurrence of which will cause said message to expire, said computer program being arranged to attach said date, time, or event to said electronic mail message before sending of the electronic mail message;
• and
• a viewer applet portion arranged to decrypt said electronic mail message to permit viewing of said electronic mail message before the occurrence of the date, time, or event selected by said originator of the electronic mail message, and to decrypt a received electronic mail message and to permit viewing of the received electronic mail message before a date, time, or event specified by a sender of the received message,
• wherein said viewer applet is arranged to prevent decryption and viewing of said encrypted electronic mail message by a recipient after the occurrence of the date, time, or event specified by the sender of the electronic mail message, and
• wherein:
• since said electronic mail message can only be viewed using the viewer applet because only the viewer applet can decrypt said electronic mail message, and
• since the viewer applet prevents decryption and viewing of the electronic mail message after the occurrence of the date, time, or event,
• said electronic mail system positively prevents all designated incarnations of the electronic mail message from being viewed after the occurrence of the date, time, or event.

A method of distributing applets for viewing electronic files, comprising the steps of:

• encrypting the electronic files so that they can only be viewed by the viewer applet;
• transmitting the encrypted electronic file from a computer of an originator of the file to a computer of a recipient designated by the originator;
• if the computer of the recipient does not have said viewer applet installed thereon, transmitting said viewer applet to the computer of the recipient either before or simultaneously with the transmission of the electronic file,
• wherein said viewer applet prevents decryption and viewing of said encrypted electronic mail message by said recipient unless message processing limitations specified by the originator of said message are implemented, and
• wherein:
• since said electronic mail message can only be viewed using the viewer applet because only the viewer applet can decrypt said electronic mail message, and
• since the viewer applet prevents decryption and viewing of the electronic mail message after the occurrence of the date, time, or event,
• said electronic mail system positively prevents all incarnations of the electronic mail message from being viewed unless said processing limitations are implemented.