A system for conducting a transaction with privacy on a wide area network, the system including a personal access device (PAD) associated with a subscriber to the system, the PAD storing a profile of the subscriber and generating commands, a privacy service provider (PSP) connected to the wide area network, the PAD being accessible by the PSP under first conditions set by the profile and the PSP being responsive to the commands from the PAD, a registered vendor (RV) connected to the wide area network, and a privacy shield network (PSN) connected to the wide area network, the RV being registered with the PSN and the PSN being structured to carry communications between the PSP and the RV related to the transaction under second conditions set by the profile. Advantageously, the PAD stores private data associated with the subscriber, and the PSP releases any of the private data to the RV only under the first and second conditions.