The Use of Communications Networks to Increase Personal Privacy

Communications networks can separate as well as join information. This ability can be used to increase personal privacy in an environment where advances in technology makes it possible to collect and correlate increasing amounts of information about individuals. The tools and principles necessary to increase personal privacy are demonstrated by creating an anonymous credit card, in which a person's identity and purchases are separated, and a national health insurance plan, in which treatment, payment and an individual's identity are separated. An analysis technique is developed to determine how well the information is separated.