Patent ID: 7006999

Claim:
A method for anonymously establishing a proving individual as a member of a group for purposes of establishing a community recommendation without liability, wherein the proving individual has a private key, comprising the computerized steps of: forging an identification transcript for at least one unknown private key, wherein the transcript comprises at least one forged commitment, at least one forged challenge, and at least one forged response, the step of forging performed by any of one or more computers; calculating a valid commitment based on the proving individual's private key, the step of calculating a valid commitment performed by any of one or more computers; transmitting the at least one forged commitment and the valid commitment to a verifying individual, the step of transmitting the at least one forged commitment and the valid commitment performed by any one or more computers; receiving a verifying challenge from the verifying individual, the step of receiving the verifying challenge performed by any one or more computers; calculating a valid challenge based on the at least one forged challenge and the verifying challenge, the step of calculating the valid challenge performed by any of one or more computers; calculating a valid response based on the valid challenge and the valid commitment, the step of calculating the valid response performed by any of one or more computers; transmitting the at least one forged challenge, the valid challenge, the at least one forged response, and the valid response to the verifying individual, the step of transmitting the at least one forged challenge performed by any of one or more computers; verifying that the at least one forged challenge and the valid challenge are consistent with the verifying challenge, the step of verifying that the at least one forged challenge and the valid challenge are consistent performed by any of one or more computers; verifying that the at least one forged response is consistent with the at least one forged commitment and the at least one forged challenge, the step of verifying that the at least one forged response is consistent with the at least one forged commitment and the at least one forged challenge performed by any of one or more computers; and verifying that the valid response is consistent with the valid commitment and the valid challenge, the step of verifying that the valid response is consistent with the valid commitment and the valid challenge performed by any of one or more computers.