Guaranteeing hypertext link integrity

A system for processing a link embedded in a link document in a client computer, said link comprises a uniform resource locator (URL) reference for a URL document in the client computer or another computer, said system comprising:

• a record containing a link reference and an intended fingerprint, said intended fingerprint representing the content of the URL document associated with the URL of the link at the time of or after the link was created;
• means for fetching the intended fingerprint for the link;
• means for fetching the URL document;
• means for creating a current fingerprint of the fetched URL document;
• means for comparing the intended fingerprint and the current fingerprint;
• and
• means for identifying that the intended fingerprint and the current fingerprint are different in a material way;
• a current fingerprint database having current fingerprints and corresponding URLs;
• means for, on identifying that the intended fingerprint and the current fingerprint are different in a material way, searching the current fingerprint database and locating current fingerprints that are similar to the intended fingerprint;
• means for choosing, subsequent to the means for searching, a current fingerprint that matches the intended fingerprint within a tolerance to thereby generate a matched current fingerprint;
• and
• means for changing, subsequent to the means for choosing, the URL of the link in the link document to match the URL of the matched current fingerprint, wherein the matched current fingerprint corresponds to a URL document that is different from a URL document corresponding to the intended fingerprint for the link but is sufficiently similar to the URL document corresponding to the intended fingerprint.

A computer program product for processing one or more sets of data processing tasks relating to a link embedded in a link document in a client computer, said link comprising a uniform resource locator (URL) reference for a URL document, said computer program product comprising a record containing a link reference and an intended fingerprint, said intended fingerprint representing the content of the URL document associated with the URL of the link at the time of or after the link was created, said computer program product further comprising computer program instructions stored on a computer-readable storage medium, for, when loaded into a computer and executed, causing a computer to carry out:

• fetching the intended fingerprint for the link;
• fetching the URL document;
• creating a current fingerprint of the fetched URL document;
• comparing the intended fingerprint and the current fingerprint;
• and
• identifying that the intended fingerprint and the current fingerprint are different in a material way, wherein there being provided a current fingerprint database having current fingerprints and corresponding URLs;
• searching the current fingerprint database and locating the current fingerprints that are similar to the intended fingerprint;
• choosing, subsequent to the searching, a current fingerprint that matches the intended fingerprint within a tolerance to thereby generate a matched current fingerprint;
• and
• changing, subsequent to the choosing, the URL of the link in the link document to match the URL of the matched current fingerprint, wherein the matched current fingerprint corresponds to a URL document that is different from a URL document corresponding to the intended fingerprint for the link but is sufficiently similar to the URL document corresponding to the intended fingerprint.