Brains working towards machine consciousness

When designing their information systems, organisations are commonly assumed to be confronted with a stark choice between identification of their clients on the one hand and anonymity on the other. Identification assures accountability but threatens privacy; whereas anonymity protects privacy but undermines accountability. This article identifies and explains the spectrum of intermediate alternatives, which involve pseudonymity and varying degrees of authentication. The selection of appropriate alternatives, in most circumstances intermediate between the extremes of identification and anonymity, is argued to be critical to the establishment of trust in electronic commerce, and to the maintenance of social and democratic freedoms.