To acquire information without being limited by equipment when a right for acquiring the information circulating through a network is owned.

A user terminal 12 sends an electronic ticket with the electronic signature thereof to an electronic ticket control server 11 to request information for making an access to a contents distribution server 14 for distributing contents corresponding to the electronic ticket. The electronic ticket control server 11 confirms the electronic signature, and determines whether the electronic ticket is justifiable or not. When the electronic ticket is justifiable, the electronic ticket control server sends a cipher key for making an access to the contents distribution server which is stored therein to the user terminal 12. The user terminal 12 makes an access to the contents distribution server 14 by using the received cipher key to receive the distribution of contents. This invention can be applied to systems for distributing the contents.