Method for privacy management in an identity network, physical entities and computer program therefor

Abstract

A controller () is used for privacy management in an identity network () for a principal (). An identity network () is a computer network including at least an identity provider (), a discovery service provider (), and a service provider () with which the principal () can make transactions. A principal () is a system entity whose identity can be authenticated. An identity resource () is either data related to an identity or group of identities, or a service associated with an identity or group of identities. The controller () queries a discovery service provider to obtain information regarding available identity resources (), it receives back addressing information for addressing attributes of the identity resources (), and it then interacts, based on the addressing information, with a service provider () to create, read, modify or delete a privacy attribute governing the use of an identity resource ().