After incorporating the Creative Commons license into my site, I began thinking about other ways to secure and protect my content. I thought of a number of ways to do this. The first method that came to mind was to add a MD5 checksum element to each item. This would allow RSS readers to incorporate logic to compare the checksum element against a checksum generated while reading the RSS file. The next method that came to mind was digitally signing RSS feeds with PGP keys. A channel element would need to be created to store the PGP key. The final method that ran through my mind was to encrypt all of the text in all of the elements of the RSS file but leave the XML markup in tact. Key could be distributed to authorized individuals entitled to access the data in the file. All three of these methods introduce varying levels of security to an RSS feed. The first method described here insures that the content of the RSS items has not been tampered with since publishing. The second method certifies that the content is authentic. The third method restricts access to the published content. All three of these methods could be implemented simultaneously to create a secure RSS feed. What I am suggesting here are ways to secure Internet RSS feeds. Of course, there is no substitute for putting the feed on a private server on a private network.

posted: 9:59:21 PM  permalink  trackback ()  comments ()    

I've chosen to protect this site under a creative commons license. I've implemented the license on the site. I am working on embedding the license in the RSS feeds available here and the page headers. I've opted to use the Atribution-ShareAlike license because I believe it provides me and my work the most protection under Creative Commons while providing others the right to leverage my work to the fullest and maintain its integrity.

posted: 8:55:04 PM  permalink  trackback ()  comments ()