An architecture for pseudonymous e-commerce
Sandro Rafaeli, Marc Rennhard, Laurent Mathy, Bernhard Plattner, David Hutchison · Open Repository and Bibliography (University of Liège) · 2001
Current e-commerce practice enforces a customer to disclose her identify to the e-shop. The use of credit cards makes it straightforward for an e-shop to know the real identity of its customers. Although, there are some payment systems based on untraceable tokens, they are not as widely used as credit cards. Furthermore, even without buying anything, a customer is already disclosing some information about who she may be or where she is by just connecting to the e-shop's Web server and leaving behind her IP address. The Pseudonymity System described in this document, makes it possible for a customer to buy electronic goods without having to reveal her real identity. 1 Introduction One major goal of the IST ShopAware project is to build trust in electronic commerce to improve its acceptance. There are several technologies that can help to achieve this, e.g. by encrypting all communication between customer and merchant. Traditional stores offer a certain degree of anonymity in the ...