Patent ID: 8751793

Claim:
A method for providing access to an online service, the method comprising: receiving, at a first electronic appliance, a first digital certificate from a second electronic appliance associated with a user, the first digital certificate attesting to at least one attribute of the user; determining, by the first electronic appliance, based at least in part on the first digital certificate, whether the user is authorized to access the online service; issuing, by the first electronic appliance, based on the determination of whether the user is authorized to access the online service, a second digital certificate to the user, the second digital certificate attesting to the user's permission to access the online service; sending, from the first electronic appliance to the second appliance, the second digital certificate; and receiving audit record information relating to the user's use of the online service, the audit record information comprising an aggregation of usage information that masks one or more details of individual service items accessed or utilized in accordance with a level of detail associated with the usage information that is deemed acceptable by the user.