Method for disaggregating customer data in online transactions to preserve privacy

A method of doing business on the Internet, comprising the execution of a method for a fee or other consideration, said method comprising:

• carrying out with at least one computer multi-party transactions among at least a first party, a second party and a user, said user having information which he considers private, said method comprising the steps of:
• determining a first role and a second role which said first and second parties, respectively, will take in the transaction;
• determining what information about the user is needed for said first role and what information about said user is needed for said second roles in order to complete the corresponding role of the transaction;
• using a private information service to:
• select one or more unigue identifiers from the group consisting of:
• nonces, GUIDs, or other tokens, either before or after either of the determining steps, to represent at least the user in the course of the transaction without exposing any of said private information to any of said first party or said second party beyond what is required to fulfill that party's role in the transaction, and
• provide said first party and said second party with a first subset and a second subset of said private information, respectively, and at least one of said selected unique identifiers, wherein said first and second subsets are based on said information needed for said first and second roles, respectively, and differ from one another at least in part;
• and
• an execution step, in which the first and second parties to the transaction complete the transaction, using the first and second subsets of the private information, respectively, without exposure thereof to one another, and said selected unique identifiers, to determine and communicate the details of the fulfillment of their respective roles while minimizing the amount of unneeded private information that is transmitted or otherwise exposed;
• wherein one or more of the parties involved in the transaction may be a token-mapping party, the token-mapping party carrying out the steps of:
• receiving or otherwise obtaining from the user one or more mapping requests, each specifying an input token and a corresponding output token;
• obtaining from another party to the transaction, information comprising an input token, a recipient identity, and a data packet;
• substituting for the input token a corresponding output token as determined by one or more of the mapping requests received from the user;
• and
• providing the resulting output token and data packet to the recipient corresponding to the recipient identity.

A computer-readable medium on which computer program instructions are stored and, when read, cause one or more computers to execute a method for carrying out multi-party transactions among at least a first party, a second party and user, said user having information which he considers private, said computer-readable medium comprising:

• at least a first one of said program instructions that causes said one or more computers to determine a first role and a second role which said first and second parties, respectively, will take in the transaction;
• at least a second one of said program instructions that causes said one or more computers to determine what information about the user is needed for said first role and what information about said user is needed for said second roles in order to complete the corresponding role of the transaction;
• at least a third one of said program instructions that causes a private information service to use at least one of said one or more computers to select, before or after the first and second program instructions, one or more unigue identifiers from the group consisting of:
• nonces, GUIDs, or other tokens, to represent at least the user in the course of the transaction without exposing said private information to any said first party or said second party beyond what is required to fulfill that party's role in the transaction;
• at least a fourth one of said program instructions that causes said private information service to use at least one of said one or more computers to provide to the first and second parties a first and a second subset of said private information, respectively, and one or more of said selected unique identifiers, wherein said first and second subsets are based on said information needed for said first and second roles, respectively, and differ from one another at least in part;
• and
• at least a fifth one of said program instructions that causes said one or more computers to complete the transaction, using the first and second subsets of private information, respectively, without exposure thereof to one another, and said selected unique identifiers to determine and communicate the details of the fulfillment of their respective roles while minimizing the amount of unneeded private information that is transmitted or otherwise exposed.