Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

W3C Recommends XML Signature Syntax

Posted by michael on from the sealed-with-a-kiss dept.

__past__ writes: "The W3C released a recommendation on XML Signature Syntax and Processing. The interesting point is not only that this is quite an important step for secure XML processing (esp. with regarding to web services), but also because there are some possibly ugly patent issues."

5 of 110 comments (clear)

  1. An Introduction to XML Signatures (xml.com) by ditoudi · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you want more information about XML Signature, just check this article
    http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2001/08/08/xmldsig.html

  2. Re:what made the web work by NineNine · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Simplicity? XML is about as simple as you can get. XML is just straight text in tags similar to HTML. Of course, it's only go to do with data transfer, but XML is generally very simple. And for those people who don't know "data" from a hole in thr ground, there's no reason to use XML in the first place.

  3. Conflict of interest? by bunyip · · Score: 5, Interesting

    So, as I understand it, a working group (WG) member creates a standard and then says, "Oh, hey, great standard guys, but now you're all going to have to pay me for it".

    Is this not a conflict of interest? Should the WG member be immediately voted off? Perhaps they should be tarred and feathered, run out of town on a rail?

    I prefer the latter approach, it may reduce the number of bogus patent claims.

    Alan.

  4. Non-adoptable Standards by jfrumkin · · Score: 5, Funny

    So, you release a standard that has a number of patent questions surrounding it...hmmmm, let's see how many people jump at the opportunity to adopt something for which they could be sued or made to pay unknown license fees....

    Another thought: Can I patent the idea of patentable standards? Sounds like a business model to me...

    --

    "What we have here, is a failure to communicate." - Cool Hand Luke
  5. XML is no longer simple by Carnage4Life · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Simplicity? XML is about as simple as you can get. XML is just straight text in tags similar to HTML. Of course, it's only go to do with data transfer, but XML is generally very simple. And for those people who don't know "data" from a hole in thr ground, there's no reason to use XML in the first place.

    In the good old days, XML was simple but this is no longer the case as the W3C has created more and more complex standards that seem to require a P.hD to understand.

    • Want to specify a structure for your XML? XML Schemas
    • Want to query XML? XQuery
    • Want to transform XML to some other format? XSLT
    • Want to use XML as a transfer format for RPC calls? SOAP.
    • Want to create links between XML documents? XPointer, XLink, and XML:Base are all needed.
    • Want to include XML files in each other? XInclude
    Many of the above standards are rather complex and difficult for most people to understand completely. This is besides the stuff one has to understand about XML infoset and XML namespaces to fully understand how to use XML properly.

    DISCLAIMER: The opinions in the above post are MINE ALONE and do not reflect the opinions, intentions or strategies of my employer.