...

...

Account

Alternative Forms

• a/c Abbreviation

• Acc. Abbreviation

• Digital Account more precise form

• Identity Near Synonym

• User Account Synonym

Definitions

Definition 1

In the literature, account is generally used a synonym for identity.

...

We recommend the usage of identity and the abandonment of account except when account is used in a fixed expression such as Windows account.

Related Terms

• Identity (Dictionary Entry)

• Orphan Account (Dictionary Entry)

• User Account

Quotes

account The environment in which a user interacts with a computer system. Each account has a unique name, which the user specifies when logging in. System data associated with an account controls what resources (files, programs, networks, etc.) the user can access and in what ways (e.g. whether files that are normally writeable are read-only for particular users) and to what extent (e.g. the total size of files a user creates may be limited). Where applicable, a record can be kept of the resources used for billing purposes.

...

The term user in computing has been traditionally equated with a human being. Its use conveys a unique association between a computing system and an entity that can be a human being or some programmable agent. User information is generally encapsulated in an account, sometimes referred to as a profile. A user account contains information about authentication as well as authorization credentials and may contain a set of attributes describing the user (such as a name, a serial number, an organization name, and so forth). Each user account is associated with an identifier that must be unique in the naming space of the underlying computing system.

(Benantar, 2006, p. 9)

Bibliography

• Benantar, 2006

• Butterfield et al., 2016

• Downing et al., 2009

See Also