Abstract: A network of secure servers, requiring no central entity to administer user identities or access permissions. Each autonomous server hosts a set of user accounts. Users may link to and access the accounts of all other users in the network. Resources in accounts are private, but users may grant each other partial permissions to them. Links and permissions are independent of the location of accounts, and are cryptographically authenticated. Users may migrate their account between servers without loosing accumulated permissions, or breaking links that others have to their account. The ability to grant permissions may be delegated to reflect complex organizational structures. A permission may be configured to unlock data in a multitude of accounts. The system will support applications that require secure information sharing across multiple organizational boundaries, and provides a distributed security model which is feasible to deploy as it is wholly administered by its users.

Abstract: A network of secure servers, requiring no central entity to administer user identities or access permissions. Each autonomous server hosts a set of user accounts. Users may link to and access the accounts of all other users in the network. Resources in accounts are private, but users may grant each other partial permissions to them. Links and permissions are independent of the location of accounts, and are cryptographically authenticated. Users may migrate their account between servers without loosing accumulated permissions, or breaking links that others have to their account. The ability to grant permissions may be delegated to reflect complex organizational structures. A permission may be configured to unlock data in a multitude of accounts. The system will support applications that require secure information sharing across multiple organizational boundaries, and provides a distributed security model which is feasible to deploy as it is wholly administered by its users.

Abstract: The naming and authentication of users by computer systems is carried out with an identifier with two functions. First, in its literal representation it acts as the system-level identity of the user. Second, it describes the location of cryptographic key material which may be used to authenticate the user claiming that identity. The method allows users to interact with secure servers or send messages to each other, on the basis that their identities cannot be easily masqueraded. The naming scheme is not hierarchical or centralised and the method is thus suited to contexts where many users may have specific relationships with many systems.

Abstract: A network of secure servers, requiring no central entity to administer user identities or access permissions. Each autonomous server hosts a set of user accounts. Users may link to and access the accounts of all other users in the network. Resources in accounts are private, but users may grant each other partial permissions to them. Links and permissions are independent of the location of accounts, and are cryptographically authenticated. Users may migrate their account between servers without loosing accumulated permissions, or breaking links that others have to their account. The ability to grant permissions may be delegated to reflect complex organizational structures. A permission may be configured to unlock data in a multitude of accounts. The system will support applications that require secure information sharing across multiple organizational boundaries, and provides a distributed security model which is feasible to deploy as it is wholly administered by its users.