[cap-talk] Confinement Confusion (was: Communicating conspirators)

[Mark S. Miller]

David Wagner wrote:
> Ok, you're right.  I over-simplified.  Let me try again, and you
> can tell me whether you're convinced by my second attempt.
> 
> Bit-confinement is a goal.
> Multi-level security is another goal.
> MLS generally is understood to require certain kinds of bit-confinement,
> thus MLS is a stronger goal than bit-confinement (because it
> requires bit-confinement + more).
> 
> The *-property is an approach for building MLS systems.
> The *-property is a means to an end; the end is MLS.
> As such, the *-property could also be viewed as an approach to
> achieving bit-confinement, but the *-property tries to achieve more
> than just bit-confinement (it also tries to achieve MLS, which goes
> beyond simple bit-confinement).

I agree, but for the phrase "the *-property could also be viewed as an 
approach to achieving bit-confinement". If X is a necessary step for achieving 
Y, but not sufficient for achieving Y, then it seems strange and confusing to 
me to say that Y is an approach for achieving X.

-- 
Text by me above is hereby placed in the public domain

     Cheers,
     --MarkM