This invention relates to a service providing system and a service providing method for allowing users to receive a service from a service server without having to submit their security-critical information to that server. A CE device 1 requests provision of the service by transmitting authentication information such as a device ID to a surrogate authentication server 2. The surrogate authentication server 2 authenticates the CE device 1 based on the authentication information and transmits a result of the authentication to the service server 3. In turn, the service server 3 provides the CE device 1 with the requested service based on the result of the authentication received from the surrogate authentication server 2. The CE device 1 then uses the service provided by the service server 3. This system can be applied advantageously to network-based marketing systems.