System and method of secure electronic commerce transactions including tracking and recording the distribution and usage of assets

A system for electronic commerce transactions that provides for tracking the usage of rented digital assets over a computer network, the system comprising:

• a server including an asset database, the asset database to store a digital asset, a title of the digital asset, and a server usage count for the digital asset;
• a computing device coupled to the server over the computer network, the computing device to store a rented digital asset and an asset usage count list that includes a title of the rented digital asset and a usage count indicating the amount of usage of the rented digital asset by the computing device;
• wherein the server:
• uploads the asset usage count list from the computing device;
• matches the title of the rented digital asset from the asset usage count list of the computing device with the title of the digital asset in the asset database;
• and
• adds the usage count from the asset usage count list of the computing device to the server usage count for the digital asset in the asset database of the server.