Con trolled access and dissemination of xml documents

Abstract

XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is becoming the most relevant standardization e-ort in the area of docu- ment representation through markup languages. Through XML, it is possible to de-ne complex doc- uments, containing information at different degrees of sensitivity. Moreover, the processes of document ex- change and acquisition, which can be very frequent in Web-based information systems, are simpli-ed and stan-dardized. In this scenario, there is a strong need for policies to control and regulate the access and dissem- ination of XML documen ts. In the paper, we discuss main protection requiremen ts posed by XML documents and we present a set of authorization and dissemination policies that enable both a controlled access to XML documents in a given source and the exchange of XML documents across different sources.