February 1, 2007 12:00 PM (EDT)

Ronald J. DeHaas announces provisional patent pending status on his following
Invention:

A System and Method for selecting security parameters based on physical location of a computer device:

Recognizing that security issues on computer communicatively connected to the Internet are a growing problem, many software applications have been implemented to detect security violations, and either block access to the Internet, or to notify a security guardian that a security violation has occurred. Security concerns and violations could include instant messaging, web surfing, email, or any other Internet protocol, including how they are used, the content thereof, or even the very access to one or more of those protocols. In a business or professional environment, there also are applications that are proprietary, or utilize proprietary information. However, there is a growing utilization of laptops, PDA's, or other mobile computer devices, and there is a desire to establish a means of establishing security rules that may vary according to the location of the device. For instance, security at an office environment may be totally established, controlled, and monitored through a corporate proxy system, but when a laptop is taken from the office environment to another location, such as home or a coffee shop, the office security and proxy connection may not be able to be applied. There is therefore a need to detect where a computer device is (the specific location) in order to establish security criteria.

Therefore, the current invention includes the following claims:

A system and method for identifying the location of a given computer device and, depending on location, establishing security criteria for that computer device, including (but not limited to): web surfing (access, or what may be added to interactive sites, or a whitelist, or a blacklist), instant messaging (access, or control of who may be included as correspondents, or content), filesharing (access, or control of content, or a whitelist, or a blacklist), email (content, who should be included as correspondents, length, etc.), and time constraints (either time of day or total time per day or other time unit), newsgroups (access, content, whitelis, or blacklist) on any or all internet protocols.

The system and method of claim 1, wherein the system and method of identifying location is a gps (global positioning service or system).
The system and method of claim 1, wherein tampering or disabling of the locating device is considered as a security violation
The system and method of claim 1, wherein any security violation triggers a notification report to another party, by telephone, internet, or other communication process.
The system and method of claim 4, wherein said report is accessible by a third party recipient through a web interface or other communication process
The system and method of claim 1, wherein a report is provided to a security guardian that provides information on current location of monitored computers
The system and method of claim 6 wherein said report is available through a web interface or other communication process.
The system and method of claim 1 wherein a security guardian can change the security settings through a web interface or other communication process
The system and method of claim 1 wherein groups of users may be established that have different security rules
The system and method of claim 9 wherein a security guardian can change the security settings for a group through a web interface or other communication process
The system and method of claim 6 wherein said report provides an analysis of security violations as to priority of impact to business operations, legal ramifications, etc.