Subject: general XML digital signature stuff

From: "Donald E. Eastlake 3rd" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 13:37:05 -0500

While we are nailing down a limited version for IOTP v1.0, parallel
work continues on general digital signatures for XML.  There is a
mailing list you can subscribe to at [email-masked].
There will be a BoF at the upcoming IETF meeting in March.  And Joseph
Reagle of the W3C has requested that I forward the following to this
list:
        
Forwarded Text ----
 
 Call for Participation:
 
 XML-DSig '99: The W3C Signed XML Workshop
 
 April 15th and 16th, 1999
 Boston, Massachusetts
 
 * Workshop Scope
 * Expected Audience
 * Position Papers
 * Registration
 * Workshop Organization
 
 See the following for the complete call for participation:
         [1] http://www.w3.org/1999/02/ds-xml-cfp-19990218.html
 _________________________________________________________________
 
 Workshop Scope
 
 Structured information permits data to be easily read, exchanged, and
 acted upon by Web agents. The scope of such information often includes
 media-independent data for electronic publishing, electronic commerce
 and -- critically -- information about other information (metadata).
 The W3C's Extensible Markup Language (XML) Recommendation
 specifies a standard syntax for structuring Web documents. The content
 of the document structure is arbitrary; anyone can create a XML data
 structure (be it a bibliographic format or cooking recipe) as long as
 it is well formed. One can also associate (through RDF or
 Xlink) the meaning of the structured information to a Web
 resource. For example, "The resource at http://foo.com/~bar.html
 has a bibliographic entry as follows ...." This is very powerful!
 
 However, the usefulness of structured information is dependent on how
 trustworthy it is. Is the authenticity of an assertion or the
 integrity of a price list assured? The goal of the XML-DSig workshop
 is to explore current work on XML, metadata, and machine readable
 semantics in the context of digital signatures. A result of this
 workshop may be a W3C activity that produces a specification for
 assuring the authenticity and integrity of Web data.
 
 Further information on the character of W3C workshops can be seen in
 the W3C process document.
 _________________________________________________________________
 
 Expected Audience
 
 We expect several groups to contribute to the workshop:
 * Members of W3C working groups that are concerned about the
 integrity and authenticity of metadata structures and
 applications, such as the XML, RDF, and P3P working groups.
 * Organizations addressing Web information and capability
 management.
 * Organizations addressing trust management on the Web.
 
 The workshop is an open event; space is limited and preference will be
 given to (1) W3C members and (2) experts in the field of metadata and
 digital signatures.
 _________________________________________________________________
 
 Position Papers
 
 Position papers are the basis for the discussion at the workshop. A
 position paper is usually short, around 1 to 4 pages and summarizes:
 * What are the needs of your company/organization in the signed XML
 area that you would like to have addressed in the Workshop.
 * What are your general expectations on the final outputs of the
 workshop
 * Optionally, what can be your potential contributions to the
 discussion, related ideas, suggested solutions. In the case of a
 well-defined technical contribution, this may be accompanied to
 the position paper as a separate paper, that may exceed the 5
 pages limit.
 
 Example topics:
 * The canonicalization of XML syntax; the canonicalization of
 XML/DOM or RDF semantics.
 * A schema definition (XML/RDF) or link type definition
 (XLink) that captures common semantics relevant to signed
 assertions about Web resources and their relationships.
 * Methods for processing composite/compound documents consisting of
 XML and non-XML data as well as for processing external signature
 blocks and assertions.
 * Reports of cryptographic implementations that are used to sign Web
 information today; reports of real world experiences in satisfying
 the business and legal requirements for binding agreements in
 digital form.
 * Requirements for digital signatures over international
 cryptographic and content formats.
 * Methods of achieving interoperability and extensibility over a
 variety encoding methods, algorithms and trust management systems.
 * Requirements for applying signed-XML to HTML, particularly to the
 HTML <HEAD> element so as to help alleviate problems of
 "header-spam" that results in biased or poor query results at
 search engines.
 * Survey of Web applications requiring signatures: XML-EDI, payment,
 P3P, workflow processing, etc.
 * The relationship of trust languages or logic to metadata (XML)
 query languages. (Trust and permissions questions might be
 represented as a query over structured permissions, see the recent
 Query Language Workshop.)
 
 Position papers must be sent via e-mail to the Workshop Chair
 ([email-masked]) by the March 29 1999. Allowed formats are HTML and
 ASCII. Good examples of position papers can be seen from the QL'98
 workshop.
 
 Position papers will be published on the public web pages (unless the
 author requests otherwise) and distributed as printed notes to all the
 participants. The Chair can ask the authors of particularly
 representative position papers to explicitly present their position at
 the workshop to foster discussion. In this case, the authors are also
 invited to make the slides of the presentation available on the
 workshop web site. Note that it is not required that every member or
 organization represented at the workshop submit a position paper.
 However, everyone is requested to submit some statement of their
 interest in the topic to the Workshop Chair.
 
 _________________________________________________________________
 
 Registration and Information to Expected Participants
 
 There will be a limit of 40 participants. ALL participants must
 register. More than two participants from any single organization is
 discouraged.
 
 There is no registration fee for W3C members. Others are required to
 pay a fee of $200 to help cover W3C's costs in running the workshop.
 The attendence limit may be exceeded or the fee may be waived at the
 discretion of the Workshop Chair for participants with compelling
 position papers. Registration is handled on a first-come first-served
 basis, so if you plan to attend the workshop please register as soon
 as possible. If you would like to attend the workshop, please fill out
 the registration form before March 29 1999. Registration is
 required! The payment can be made on-site at the workshop; accepted
 forms of payment are MasterCard, Visa, or a check in US dollars made
 payable to MIT/W3C. If you have trouble with these forms of payment,
 please contact the chair ([email-masked]).
 _________________________________________________________________
 
 Workshop Organization
 
 W3C Signed-XML Contact and Workshop Chair:
 
         Joseph M. Reagle Jr. (W3C)
 
         <[email-masked]> + 1.617.258.7621
         Massachusetts Institute of Technology
         Laboratory for Computer Science
         W3C, NE43-350
         545 Technology Square
         Cambridge, MA 02139 USA
 
 W3C Meeting Planner:
 
         Susan Hardy (W3C)
 
         Email: [email-masked]
         Tel.: +1 617 253 2613
         The World Wide Web Consortium
         MIT Lab for Computer Science
         545 Technology Square
         Cambridge MA 02139 USA
 
End Forwarded Text ----
_______________________     
Regards,          http://web.mit.edu/reagle/www/
Joseph Reagle     E0 D5 B2 05 B6 12 DA 65  BE 4D E3 C1 6A 66 25 4E
independent research account

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