RE: [entity-resolution] Re: OASIS - Catalog Threat ?

["Grosso, Paul" <pgrosso@ptc.com>]

I'm with Norm--I don't understand the comment, I don't
see a problem, and I don't want to change the default
of the prefer attribute (which is implementation 
dependent).

paul

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Norman Walsh [mailto:ndw@nwalsh.com] 
> Sent: Tuesday, 2007 February 06 15:59
> To: mary.mcrae@oasis-open.org
> Cc: entity-resolution@lists.oasis-open.org; 'Carol Geyer'
> Subject: [entity-resolution] Re: OASIS - Catalog Threat ?
> 
> / "Mary McRae" <mary.mcrae@oasis-open.org> was heard to say:
> | Hi Lauren,
> |
> |   This email was sent to communications (Carol Geyer).
> |
> | Regards,
> |
> | Mary
> |
> |> 
> |> -----Original Message-----
> |> From: Steven J. Hathaway [mailto:shathawa@e-z.net]
> |> Sent: Sunday, February 04, 2007 12:28 PM
> |> To: communications@oasis-open.org
> |> Subject: OASIS - Catalog Threat ?
> |> 
> |> I recommend that (Sec: 4.1.1) of the OASIS entity resolver 
> |> catalog specification be revised to help avoid the 
> |> development of products that have misleading identifier trust.
> |> 
> |> OASIS is a general entity resolver and catalog.  It can now 
> |> be used with XML.  The specification document (Sec: 4.1.1) 
> |> describing the 'prefer' attribute may harbor a security 
> |> threat related to identifier trust.
> |> 
> |> Normally, the Public identifiers have global scope, and 
> |> therefore a high probability of trust.  The System 
> |> identifiers normally have a restricted scope - that of a 
> |> specific system - and therefore do not have the global trust.
> |> 
> |> When a document is passed between systems, it is undefined 
> |> what the scope of System identifier implies.  Herein lies an 
> |> OASIS catalog threat.  A document may have both Public and 
> |> System identifiers proclaiming to be associated with the 
> |> Public resource.  Since the document could be received from a 
> |> foreign system, the Public and System identifiers may no 
> |> longer define the same resource. The System identifiers in 
> |> messages received from foreign systems should have a lower 
> |> threshold of trust than Public identifiers.
> |> 
> |> The 'prefer' attribute is often set to 'public' for a catalog 
> |> or group.  And if both a Public and System identifier for the 
> |> resource reside in the catalog, the System replacement text 
> |> is used.  Most developers would imply that the Public 
> |> replacement text should be used (See Section 4.1.1. table).
> |> 
> |> The 'prefer' attribute should be set to 'system' to handle 
> |> those documents that are only generated and consumed by the 
> |> same system.
> 
> I'm not sure I understand the comment. Users are free to set the
> prefer attribute to system if they wish.
> 
> The catalog standard does not specify a default value for the prefer
> attribute and mandates that tools provide a way for the user to
> specify it.
> 
>                                         Be seeing you,
>                                           norm
> 
> -- 
> Norman Walsh
> XML Standards Architect
> Sun Microsystems, Inc.
>