Patent ID: RE43181

Claim:
A method of facilitating anonymous communication between a first station and a second station, the second station having an address for communication, the address relating to the second station or the party at the second station and being stored in memory and accessible by a controller, and each station being enabled to transmit and receive packet data and being connected directly to a packet data network, the method comprising: providing a transaction specification from at least one of the first and second stations, generating a reference code by the controller in response to the transaction specification, there being a defined relationship between the reference code and said address, supplying the reference code from the controller to at least the first station, receiving a communication request by the controller from the first station for communication with at least the second station , receiving the reference code by the controller from the first station, the reference code having been previously supplied from the controller to the first station, using the reference code by the controller to recover said address from memory , and opening a channel for communication between said first and second stations , whereby anonymous communication can be established between the first and second stations without providing said address to the first station without requiring said address to be provided to the first station, the channel for communication including at least the packet data network that is connected directly to the first station .