US 8,713,651 B1 · Advocate for facilitating verification for the online presence of an entity

Abstract

Some embodiments provide an advocate system to facilitate automated online presence verification for different entities on behalf of the entities. The advocate system places service providers on notice that profiles and information hosted by them and that form the online presence for a particular entity should first be verified with that particular entity. The advocate system further facilitates online presence verification by 1) directly or indirectly connecting the service providers that are placed on notice with the appropriate authoritative entities to facilitate the verification of the profiles and information, 2) selectively targeting service providers hosting profiles and information that are unverified, 3) automatedly verifying hosted profiles and information based on a verified profile lists and verified information that authoritative entities provide to a central repository. In so doing, the advocate system prevents potential damage to the authoritative entity's credibility while also mitigating potential for fraud, identity theft, etc.

Claims17

Dependent claims

A computer-implemented method performed by a verification system comprising a server with a processor and non-transitory computer-readable storage, the computer-implemented method for facilitating verification of an online presence of a particular entity, the computer-implemented method comprising:

querying each of a plurality of service providers that independently host an unverified online presence of the particular entity, wherein the unverified online presence comprises at least one of information and a profile for the particular entity that has not been verified;
identifying a subset of the plurality of service providers hosting the unverified online presence of the particular entity;
providing, to each service provider of the subset of service providers, notice of the unverified online presence of the particular entity that is hosted by the service provider, wherein providing the notice elicits action from at least one particular service provider of the subset of service providers to verify the online presence of the particular entity that is hosted by the particular service provider;
and
passing from the verification system to the particular entity, a listing identifying the subset of service providers that host the unverified online presence for the particular entity.

2 more elements

A computer-implemented method performed by a verification system comprising a server with at least one processor, the computer-implemented method comprising:

identifying a set of service providers that host an unverified online presence of a particular entity;
effectuating verification of the unverified online presence of the particular entity that is hosted by a particular service provider of the set of service providers, wherein effectuating verification comprises providing from the verification system to each service provider of the set of service providers, (i) notice that the service provider hosts the unverified online present of the particular entity and at least one of (ii) verified information that is obtained from the particular entity and (iii) contact information of an authorized source for verification of the particular entity's online presence, wherein the contact information comprises at least one of contact information of the particular entity and contact information for the verification system;
and
verifying the unverified online presence of the particular entity that is hosted by the particular service provider based on confirmation from the particular entity, that at least one of information and a profile comprising the online presence of the particular entity at the particular service provider is verified.

1 more element

For a verification system comprising at least one server with a processor and non-transitory computer-readable memory, a computer-implemented method performed by the verification system for facilitating verification of an online presence of a particular entity, the computer-implemented method comprising:

storing to the non-transitory computer-readable memory, verified information comprising information that the particular entity approves for inclusion as part of a verified online presence of the particular entity;
identifying a set of a plurality of service providers that host an online presence of the particular entity;
comparing, by the verification system, the verified information stored to the non-transitory computer-readable medium with information from the online presence of the particular entity that is hosted by each service provider of the set of service providers;
providing notification from the verification system to a particular service provider of the set of service providers that a particular online presence of the particular entity that is hosted by the particular service provider is unverified when the verified information does not match with the information contained within the particular online presence, said notification effectuating verification of the particular online presence by including at least one of (i) contact information, (ii) identification of information contained within the particular online presence that does not match with the verified information, and (iii) verified information that does not match with the information contained within the particular online presence;
and
confirming that the online presence of the particular entity at the particular service provider contains verified information and submitting a verification seal to the particular service provider for display in conjunction with the online presence of the particular entity, the verification seal indicating that the online presence of the particular entity contains information verified by the particular entity.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Advocate for facilitating verification for the online presence of an entity

Life of this patent

Advocate for facilitating verification for the online presence of an entity

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims17