US Patent 8140375 Voting on claims pertaining to a resource

A credibility card contains a claim about a resource, a way to identify the claimant, and a set of choices to be voted on about the claim. A resource can be information content, a product, or another item about which a claim can be made, and it may be associated with a Uniform Resource Indicator (URI). Information (e.g., a web page) that contains or describes the resource includes the credibility card, and a user viewing the information is given the chance to vote on the claims, such as by indicating agreement or disagreement with the claim. The votes are stored in a repository, which may protect the votes from being deleted. Users can view the tally of votes in order to judge the credibility of the claim or the claimant.