32. A system for electronic commerce wherein market data can be collected and analyzed comprising: a plurality of consumer agents, each associated with and capable of communicating with a consumer; a consumer data base comprising consumer preference data associated with each said consumer; a plurality of provider agents, each associated with and capable of communicating with a provider; and a data base of offers to sell and offers to buy; wherein said consumer agents conceal the identity of the associated consumer from agents not associated with said consumer in said system; wherein said consumer agents are capable of searching said data base of offers to sell and offers to buy; wherein said consumer agent searching generates persistent market data; wherein said provider agents are capable of searching said consumer database and said persistent market data; and wherein said provider agents analyze said consumer database and said persistent market data to quantify consumer demand.
32. A system for electronic commerce wherein market data can be collected and analyzed comprising: a plurality of consumer agents, each associated with and capable of communicating with a consumer; a consumer data base comprising consumer preference data associated with each said consumer; a plurality of provider agents, each associated with and capable of communicating with a provider; and a data base of offers to sell and offers to buy; wherein said consumer agents conceal the identity of the associated consumer from agents not associated with said consumer in said system; wherein said consumer agents are capable of searching said data base of offers to sell and offers to buy; wherein said consumer agent searching generates persistent market data; wherein said provider agents are capable of searching said consumer database and said persistent market data; and wherein said provider agents analyze said consumer database and said persistent market data to quantify consumer demand. 35. A computer network agent system according to claim 32 wherein each provider agent comprises, in combination: a unique identifier function for maintaining an identifier that uniquely identifies the provider agent within the agent system; an owner manager function for maintaining data about the provider; an individual firewall for protecting the data about the provider from other agents, controlling all access to data that is maintained by the various internal functions, ensuring that only authenticated and authorized agents and users can access private data; a preference manager for maintaining data about the preferences of the provider; a delivery manager for accepting messages generated by other agents or other components of the system, that are directed to the provider and delivers those messages according to the provider's desired delivery time and delivery media and rejecting unsolicited messages, unless an unsolicited message meets the provider's preferred criteria as maintained by the preference manager; and a demand agent manager for assisting the provider with the creation and management of demand agents.