Abstract: The present invention relates to a method and devices for operating a communication network, in particular a presence SIMPLE network applying polite block and confirm for subscribers to presence data. A method for operating a communication system comprising a presence server and a presence document server is provided, the communication system being adapted to communicate with a first client requesting subscription to the presence data of a presentity using a second client, the method comprising the steps of: sending, in case the subscription is to be confirmed or politely blocked, a request for presence data from the presence server to the presence document server; receiving a message comprising presence data of the presentity from the presence document server; and sending a notification message to the first client based on the received presence data of the presentity.

Abstract: A system, server, computer readable medium and method for receiving personal information about a first user and providing the personal information to a second user, where the first and second users are connected to corresponding first and second servers in a communication network. The method includes receiving at the second server, from the second user, a request for the personal information of the first user, accessing an address of the first user based on an address book of the second user, wherein the address book of the second user is accessible to the second server, contacting the first server based on the address of the first user and requesting from the first server the personal information of the first user, receiving the personal information of the first user from the first server, and providing the received personal information of the first user to the second user, without storing the received personal information in the second server or in an associated storage device.