Power and Permission in Computer Systems

Abstract

What I am going to talk about is power and permission in security systems. This is work by me and my supervisor, Marek Sergot from Imperial College.

In the area of security we usually use words such as right, privilege, and authorisation, but there are several interpretations of these words. Sometimes by authorisation we mean some kind of institutional power, and sometimes we mean permission. These ideas are not new. David Makinson discussed this distinction in a paper, that there is a distinction between being permitted to create a fact, and being empowered or having a legal capacity to create a fact.