Patent ID: 8291474

Claim:
A method of promoting user anonymity within an electronic federated identity management system, the system comprising identity providers configured to authenticate users and service providers configured to provide services to the users, the method comprising operating a set of one or more computers to: create an opaque group at a first identity provider to include multiple users of the federated identity management system, wherein each user has a primary identity within the system, and wherein creating the opaque group comprises determining a secondary identity for each user that is a member of the opaque group; store at the first identity provider an identity of the opaque group, wherein the identity references the primary identities of the member users; receive at a first service provider a request to distribute an object to one or more members of the group; forward the request from the service provider to an identity provider, wherein forwarding the request comprises forwarding the request along with the identity for the opaque group and the secondary identities for the one or more members; and facilitate the provision of services by the service providers to members of the opaque group without allowing the service providers to know the primary identities of the members of the group.