<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><br><div><br><div>Begin forwarded message:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#000000" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><b>From: </b></font><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">John Carlson <<a href="mailto:john.carlson3@sbcglobal.net">john.carlson3@sbcglobal.net</a>></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#000000" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><b>Date: </b></font><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">June 11, 2009 12:57:06 PM PDT</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#000000" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><b>To: </b></font><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">"General discussions concerning capability systems." <<a href="mailto:cap-talk@mail.eros-os.org">cap-talk@mail.eros-os.org</a>></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#000000" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><b>Subject: </b></font><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica"><b>Re: [cap-talk] "ambient authority" on wiki.erights.org</b></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div> </div><div><br>On Jun 11, 2009, at 11:09 AM, Mark Miller wrote:<br><br><blockquote type="cite"># If a subject can operate on all objects of a given type, we say that<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"># it has ambient authority.<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Huh? I am completely confused. What do types have to do with anything?<br></blockquote><br>How about:<br><br>If a subject can operate on all objects in a set, where the set is limited to a system, we say that the subject has ambient authority within that system.<br><br>Possibly systems: the operating system of a computer, the Internet, the file system of a computer, an ecosystem, a political state, the world, the universe.<br><br></div></blockquote>Another possible system would be a running program.</div><div><br><blockquote type="cite"><div>A capability allows a subject to operate on one object in a set, where the set is limited to a system.<br><br>What is the thing which allows a subject to operate on many objects in a set, where the set is limited to a system? An identity? A master key/password? A visa? A spacecraft?<br><br></div></blockquote></div><br></body></html>