Key/Object equivalence?

[Bryan Ford]

>> A question to the KeyKOS people:  How is key and/or object
>> equivalence handled in KeyKOS?  Does KeyKOS provide a
>> way to compare two keys to see if they're identical?
>
>The generally available DISCRIM function will compare two
>keys for equality.  It is mostly used by people doing debugging.
>
>> Is there a way to compare a key against a whole bunch of
>> other keys quickly, e.g. by taking some kind of hash function
>> of the bits that make up the key in the kernel?
>
>The KID (Key Indexed Directory) provides this kind of functionality.
>The only user is the FACTORY (which everyone uses).  The factory 
>uses it to remember the "holes" (places where the factory requestor's
>data can possibly leak to the factory builder).

Scanning through one of the KeyKOS papers again, I noticed
the "Keybits" object, which presumably is used to implement KIDs.
Are keys to this object generally available to most everything
in a KeyKOS system, or are they privileged?  In other words,
is having read-only access to the actual bits comprising a key
considered a security threat in some situations?

Thanks!
				Bryan