Patent ID: 8201232

Claim:
A device that is a mobile telecommunications device comprising: a wireless communication module, a display, and a local memory, wherein said device is configured to: obtain an indication on the device of a request to authenticate a first entity, wherein said request to authenticate has been effectively initiated by a service provider associated with a servicing device and issued to a second device in order to authenticate said first entity, wherein said first entity includes one or more persons; determine, based on selectable preferences of the user of the device, a selection of authentication identifiers the entity is willing to be provided to the servicing device and using the selection to determine whether to effectively provide one or more authentication identifiers from a set of authentication identifiers including a general authentication ID and at least one personal identification that are stored in the local memory on said device to said servicing device for authentication of said first entity in response to said request to authenticate said entity; and effectively provide said one or more authentication identifiers to said servicing device only when said determining determines to effectively provide said one or more authentication identifiers to said first entity, thereby allowing said servicing device to authenticate said first entity based on said authentication identifiers stored on said device even though said request to authenticate said first entity was effectively issued to said second device; wherein the device stores authentication identifiers on the behalf of the second device and permits the user of the device to determine preferences for the release of identification information to service providers; wherein said device provides authentication management, including determining user preferences for releasing authentication identifiers based on historical usage of the device.