PCT No. PCT/IB96/00025 Sec. 371 Date Jul. 2, 1998 Sec. 102(e) Date Jul. 2, 1998 PCT Filed Jan. 12, 1996 PCT Pub. No. WO97/25801 PCT Pub. Date Jul. 17, 1997Computer network management for electronic commerce requires technical implementations of business processes. The process addressed here is a technical method for a communication in which two or more parties legitimately want to communicate anonymously, often before discussing a deal or closing a business, e.g. for anonymous bidding or auctioning in electronic commerce. Essentially, the invention is a method, described by a protocol, for safely exchanging data in a network that provides a public key infrastructure and an anonymous communication possibility between network users. It consists of a sequence of steps in which both sender (e.g. customer) and addressee (e.g. merchant) compose data sets (i.e., requests and replies) that are based on received data and/or prior knowledge. The data sets are enciphered to provide anonymity, and digitally signed to provide proof of the partner. The invention is also a system designed to implement the invented method.