A communication agreement framework for access/action control

Abstract

We introduce a framework for access/action control which shifts the emphasis from the participants to their relationships. The framework is based on a model in which participants negotiate the mutually agreed-upon boundary conditions of their relationships, and create social reference points by encapsulating them in compact communication pacts, called commpacts. Commpacts are designed to provide a language enabling a social mechanism of coordinated expectation. We argue that in networked environments characterized by multiple authorities and trusted proxies, this model can deal with the complexities of general (user- and content-dependent) distributed access/action control and provides a clear user-conceptual metaphor. The frame work embeds naturally into the existing legal and institutional infrastructure; it generalizes work in electronic contracting. Commpacts can be seen as a third fundamental type next to access-control lists (ACLs) and capabilities.