Trust chains in a social network

Abstract

Members of a social network (SNET) circle can share content with other members of SNET circle, members of the same SNET that are not members of the same circle, or send content to people or devices outside of SNET. Trust chain can be used alone or in conjunction with other security measures to assign or select an appropriate level of content protection and SNET access. A trust rating or level associated with a trusted human member can be conferred to a social network device, allowing that device to be included in the trust chain. Trust can also be conferred from a trusted social network device to a child device of the social network device. A trust processing module can work in cooperation with one or more trust authorities to establish initial and updated overall trust levels of a human or device associated with the SNET.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for use in establishing that a social network device has a trust level sufficient to be included in a trust chain, the method comprising:
 receiving user identification information at a processing device configured to implement a trust processing module;   using the trust processing module to establish a trust level associated with the user, wherein the trust level of the user indicates that the user is a trusted member of the trust chain link;   conferring trust from the trusted member to the social network device; and   including the social network device in the trust chain based, at least in part, on the trust conferred to the social network device from the trusted member.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein conferring trust comprises:
 conferring trust from a human member to a parent device of the human member.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 conferring trust from the social network device to a child device of the social network device; and   including the child device in the trust chain based, at least in part, on the trust conferred to the child device from the social network device.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein conferring trust comprises:
 downloading one or more trusted software applications to the social network device.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the one or more trusted software applications is configured to identify one or more trust servicing components included in the social network device. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein using the trust processing module to establish a trust level associated with the user includes correlating specific pieces of the user identification information with other specific pieces of the user identification information to establish an overall trust level associated with the user. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein using the trust processing module to establish a trust level associated with the user includes interacting with a trust authority. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the trust level associated with the user includes an adaptive trust rating generated, at least in part, by overlaying newer data onto older data. 
     
     
         9 . A social network host processing system, the social network host processing system comprising:
 communication interface circuitry configured to receive user identification information associated with a human member of a social network;   a trust processing module configured to:
 establish a level of trust associated with the human member based on interaction with a trust authority; 
 confer trust from the human member to a social network device used by the human member to interface with the social network; and 
 memory configured to store information associated with a trust chain, wherein the information indicates that the social network device is included in the trust chain, and wherein inclusion of the social network device in the trust chain is based, at least in part, on the trust conferred to the social network device from the human member. 
   
     
     
         10 . The social network host processing system of  claim 9 , wherein:
 the trust processing module is further configured to confer trust from the social network device to a child device of the social network device; and   the memory is further configured to store information indicating that the child device is included in the trust chain based, at least in part, on the trust conferred to the child device from the social network device.   
     
     
         11 . The social network host processing system of  claim 9 , wherein the trust processing module is further configured to download one or more trusted software applications to the social network device. 
     
     
         12 . The social network host processing system of  claim 11 , wherein the one or more trusted software applications is configured to identify one or more trust servicing components included in the social network device. 
     
     
         13 . The social network host processing system of  claim 9 , wherein the trust processing module is configured to establish a trust level associated with the user includes correlating specific pieces of the user identification information with other specific pieces of the user identification information to establish an overall trust level associated with the user. 
     
     
         14 . The social network host processing system of  claim 9 , wherein the trust processing module is configured to inform a content storage system about a level of trust conferred to the social networking device. 
     
     
         15 . The social network host processing system of  claim 9 , wherein the trust processing module is configured to use an adaptive trust rating. 
     
     
         16 . A social network infrastructure supporting at least one trust chain in a social network, the social network infrastructure comprising:
 a trust processing module configured to:
 receive user identification information associated with a user; 
 obtain, via wireless or wired communications, trust information from a trust authority, the trust information associated with a trust rating of the user; 
 establishing an overall trust rating of the user based, at least in part, on the user information and the trust information from the trust authority; 
 confer trust from the user to a parent social network device and establish the parent social network device as a link in the at least one trust chain associated with the social network; and 
   a trust chain database coupled to the trust processing module and configured to store information associated with the at least one trust chain, including information indicating that the social network device is included in the at least one trust chain.   
     
     
         17 . The social network infrastructure of  claim 16 , wherein:
 the trust processing module is further configured to confer trust from the social network device to a child device of the social network device.   
     
     
         18 . The social network infrastructure of  claim 16 , wherein the trust processing module is further configured to confer trust in response to the user downloading one or more software applications to the social network device, the one or more software applications configured to identify one or more trust servicing components included in the social network device. 
     
     
         19 . The social network infrastructure of  claim 16 , wherein the trust processing module is configured to establish a trust link with the trust authority. 
     
     
         20 . The social network infrastructure of  claim 16 , wherein specific pieces of information included in the user information and the trust information from the trust authority are assigned trust ratings.