2.8.1 Digital Signature of Web Page

Signing a Web page will allow humans to understand that information conveyed by it is authentic. A typical example is a historical document that has been displayed as an XHTML Web page and is signed by an archivist or historian to indicate that it is genuine. Then it can be quoted or referenced by historians in their own writings. This is better than obtaining the document using a secure link to an authenticated Web server because it is the document itself, not the Web server (or the connection), that is required to be genuine.

In addition, the document can be placed at a different location and still retain the security of the digital signature.

2.8.2 Security Protocol Using XML Signature

Suppose there is an authentication protocol which results in the authenticated client receiving a token at the end of the process; this authentication token can then be used to verify these credentials to other parties on the network. If the token uses an XML format, it can contain data created using the multitude of XML vocabularies that are available. The authentication server's security approval will be indicated by the XML signature of the XML data within the token.

2.8.3 Machine Interpretable Trust Mechanisms

If the XML Signature standard can be combined with a basic logic-processing language, there is the basis for trust mechanisms where decisions are performed by machines based on the logical rules set up by the owner,...