June 19, 2006

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

Instant Message/Chat protocol restraints:
The method and system of monitoring and reporting for the purposes of accountability of Instant Message, Chat room, and other non-http protocols already has patent pending status by DeHaas et al.

However, there is a recognition that the monitoring of ALL chat rooms and instant messages has the possibility of invading the privacy of the user.
Therefore, there is the need in the art for certain restrictions on the monitoring of such protocols in such a way as to provide protection against invasion of privacy,
while at the same time providing desired accountability.

As such, this invention provides the following claims, relating to the monitoring and reporting of instant messages and chat room conversations for the purpose of
providing accountability (in the following, "CORRESPONDENCE" refers to the content of the instant message or chat room contents in question, "USER" refers to the
person who has the accountability program - herein referred to as "PROGRAM" - installed on his computer, and "CORRESPONDENT" refers to the person with whom the
USER is corresponding either by instant message or chat):

1. The system and method of allowing the USER to optionally restrict monitoring andvreporting in such a way as to include ONLY the username of the CORRESPONDENT without
providing any other details of the CORRESPONDENCE.

2. The system and method of claim 1 in which the USER may also choose certain CORRESPONDENTS who will not be included in (in other words, they will be excepted
from) the monitoring and reporting process. For instance, a USER may not wish his wife to be listed as a CORRESPONDENT for privacy purposes.

3. The system and method of claim 2 in which the PROGRAM allows only a specified number of CORRESPONDENTS who may be excepted from monitoring and reporting.

4. The system and method of allowing the USER to optionally restrict monitoring and reporting in such a way as to include the username of the CORRESPONDENT, AS WELL AS
a "score" which will provide an indicator of the likelihood of objectionable terms in the CORRESPONDENCE.

5. The system and method of claim 4 wherein the actual list of objectionable terms occurring in the CORRESPONDENCE is included along with the score.

6. The system and method of claim 4 wherein "objectionable terms" may include a USER-provided list of terms, such as addresses, phone numbers, names, or other specific information.

(added 6/20/06)
7. The system and method of claim 4 wherein the entire contents of CORRESPONDENCE may be displayed to CORRESPONDENT if a specific, pre-determined score is assigned to that CORRESPONDENCE.