After having developed, in the early 1970s, together with Vinton Cerf, the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP) – which are the basis of the internet today – , the American engineer and computer scientist Robert Khan now intends to improve security levels and ensure the integrity of data shared on the world wide web through an information management system that he began to develop over the last 20 years.
Called "Digital Object Architecture", the system's proposal is to carry out a kind of registration of information available in digital format - called digital objects - and give them a unique identifier or "serial number", in order to ensure their location and control access and usage over time.
In this way, the link to a text published on the Internet – such as the one you are reading – would not be lost with eventual changes in the address (URL) of the publication, because its identifier would not be associated with a port of a computer or a server, for example, but to a digital object. With this, the system would always follow the digital object to which the link is linked, even if at a new address.
Originally conceived to manage access to publications, such as books or movies available on the internet, the system can also be used to manage communication in the Internet of Things (IoT) – a network of physical objects, such as refrigerators and stoves, vehicles and real estate with technology embedded, in addition to sensors and connection, capable of collecting and transmitting data –, indicated Khan.
“Digital Object Architecture is a logical extension of the internet to manage information in digital form,” said Khan. “It reduces the barriers to building information systems, allows programs to interact directly with digital objects or parts of them and allows the interoperability of digital objects, including those generated by different organizations, among other advantages”, he pointed out.
He said that the system began to be conceived in the late 1980s, when he and Cerf realized the need to develop a method to manage information on the internet. The World Wide Web at the time had been designed and implemented as a general purpose platform to provide connectivity between computers, devices and networks of all kinds, and a means by which any application could be made available both publicly and for use by authorized users. .
This realization led them to develop knowbot programming – mobile programming in the network environment.
In a report published in March 1998, they describe the basic components of an open architecture for a digital library system and a plan for its development.
“Some information management components of knowbot programming – such as the information identifier component – were the foundation for the Digital Object Architecture, explained Khan.
Parallel web development
The development of the Digital Object Architecture took place alongside the World Wide Web by Tim Berners-Lee of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).
Since then, both systems have been widely used. However, the Web has gained more rapid acceptance, although it is primarily focused on managing public information, has limited security, and only grants short-term access.
Digital Object Architecture, on the other hand, was designed to enable both public and private information – or a combination of the two – and to be managed in a networked environment for potentially very long periods of time, compared Khan.
“Any information in digital format can be managed securely by Digital Object Architecture,” said Khan.
In order to ensure security, the system is based on a public key cryptography (PKI) regime.
Through this system, the creator of a digital object has the possibility of restricting access to people or machines known by the system as authorized users by their respective identifiers.
If, for example, a hospital's patient medical records are structured as a digital object, access to this sensitive information may be limited to authorized users, based on their identifiers and their ability to accurately respond to a challenge posed by the PKI.
In some cases, access may mean permission to obtain a digital entity in its entirety. In other cases, access may mean permission to perform specific operations on all or part of the digital entity.
“The system makes it possible to guarantee the integrated security of a digital object through public keys. The Internet of Things could be managed through addressing and security components of the Digital Object Architecture, since the networked physical objects that characterize the IoT are nothing more than information systems, explained Khan.
The system would make it possible not only to manage these information systems, but also to make them interoperable, in addition to enabling their modes of operation, predicting failures and allowing them to interact, he said.
Robert Khan was in Brazil to participate in the 2nd Brazilian and Latin American Congress on the Internet of Things.
Called "Digital Object Architecture", the system's proposal is to carry out a kind of registration of information available in digital format - called digital objects - and give them a unique identifier or "serial number", in order to ensure their location and control access and usage over time.
In this way, the link to a text published on the Internet – such as the one you are reading – would not be lost with eventual changes in the address (URL) of the publication, because its identifier would not be associated with a port of a computer or a server, for example, but to a digital object. With this, the system would always follow the digital object to which the link is linked, even if at a new address.
Originally conceived to manage access to publications, such as books or movies available on the internet, the system can also be used to manage communication in the Internet of Things (IoT) – a network of physical objects, such as refrigerators and stoves, vehicles and real estate with technology embedded, in addition to sensors and connection, capable of collecting and transmitting data –, indicated Khan.
“Digital Object Architecture is a logical extension of the internet to manage information in digital form,” said Khan. “It reduces the barriers to building information systems, allows programs to interact directly with digital objects or parts of them and allows the interoperability of digital objects, including those generated by different organizations, among other advantages”, he pointed out.
He said that the system began to be conceived in the late 1980s, when he and Cerf realized the need to develop a method to manage information on the internet. The World Wide Web at the time had been designed and implemented as a general purpose platform to provide connectivity between computers, devices and networks of all kinds, and a means by which any application could be made available both publicly and for use by authorized users. .
This realization led them to develop knowbot programming – mobile programming in the network environment.
In a report published in March 1998, they describe the basic components of an open architecture for a digital library system and a plan for its development.
“Some information management components of knowbot programming – such as the information identifier component – were the foundation for the Digital Object Architecture, explained Khan.
Parallel web development
The development of the Digital Object Architecture took place alongside the World Wide Web by Tim Berners-Lee of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).
Since then, both systems have been widely used. However, the Web has gained more rapid acceptance, although it is primarily focused on managing public information, has limited security, and only grants short-term access.
Digital Object Architecture, on the other hand, was designed to enable both public and private information – or a combination of the two – and to be managed in a networked environment for potentially very long periods of time, compared Khan.
“Any information in digital format can be managed securely by Digital Object Architecture,” said Khan.
In order to ensure security, the system is based on a public key cryptography (PKI) regime.
Through this system, the creator of a digital object has the possibility of restricting access to people or machines known by the system as authorized users by their respective identifiers.
If, for example, a hospital's patient medical records are structured as a digital object, access to this sensitive information may be limited to authorized users, based on their identifiers and their ability to accurately respond to a challenge posed by the PKI.
In some cases, access may mean permission to obtain a digital entity in its entirety. In other cases, access may mean permission to perform specific operations on all or part of the digital entity.
“The system makes it possible to guarantee the integrated security of a digital object through public keys. The Internet of Things could be managed through addressing and security components of the Digital Object Architecture, since the networked physical objects that characterize the IoT are nothing more than information systems, explained Khan.
The system would make it possible not only to manage these information systems, but also to make them interoperable, in addition to enabling their modes of operation, predicting failures and allowing them to interact, he said.
Robert Khan was in Brazil to participate in the 2nd Brazilian and Latin American Congress on the Internet of Things.
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