Patent ID: 8220040

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving membership requirements for a first group, wherein the membership requirements are identical for all of a plurality of members of the first group, and wherein the membership requirements do not uniquely identify the plurality of members of the first group; receiving a proof of an attribute value from a first user; verifying whether the proof of the attribute value meets the membership requirements, wherein the verifying further comprises comparing the proof of the attribute value in a photo to a physical appearance of the first user; adding the first user as a first member of the first group if the proof of the attribute value meets the membership requirements; and preventing the first user from joining the first group if the proof of the attribute value does not meet the membership requirements; in response to the receiving the membership requirements, creating a service digital certificate and sending the service digital certificate to a service; and if the proof of the attribute value is valid, creating a person digital certificate and sending the person digital certificate to the first user.