Using ACLs in JSON

[Peter Brooks]

I'm designing a system that should allow different views to different
audiences. I understand that I can use application logic to control
the access security, but it seems to me that it'd make more sense to
have this documented in the data-stream so that it's data-driven.

I was wondering if there was any standard way of doing this in JSON.
Alternatively, is there a better way of organising this in Python
that's compatible with JSON?

I've put an example of the sort of thing that I mean below. The idea
is that this object is accessible for viewing or deleting by the role
'HR' and available for change only to the owner of the record itself.
In addition, the record can be viewed by those with the role
'manager'. The syntax may be wrong, but I hope that my intention is
reasonably clear.

Is there an existing practice or standard for doing this sort of
thing?

{
"title" : "Example Schema",
"type" : "object",
"version" : "1.0",
"properties": {
"firstname" : {
"type": "string"
},
"lastname" : {
"type": "string"
},
"age" : {
"description" : "Age in years",
"type": "integer",
"minimum": 0
}
},
"ACL-view": ["HR","Manager",["firstname","lastname"]],
"ACL-change": ["firstname","Lastname"],
"ACL-delete": ["HR"],
"required": ["firstname","lastname"]
}

 

[Carlos Nepomuceno]

Not exactly what you want but you may consider Google ACL XML[1].

If there aren't any system integration restrictions you can do what you think it's best... for now.


[1] https://developers.google.com/storage/docs/accesscontrol#applyacls


----------------------------------------

 

[Michael Torrie]

I'm designing a system that should allow different views to different
audiences. I understand that I can use application logic to control
the access security, but it seems to me that it'd make more sense to
have this documented in the data-stream so that it's data-driven.

I was wondering if there was any standard way of doing this in JSON.
Alternatively, is there a better way of organising this in Python
that's compatible with JSON?

While I don't understand exactly what you're using JSON for, and nor do
I understand the purpose of the JSON structure you posted, I can say
that ACLs have nothing to do with JSON.

JSON is simply a data markup format, like HTML, XML, plain text, or an
INI file. It's merely data. If you want to restrict who sees what when
they request a chunk of data formatted using JSON, then you have to
enforce that in the code that's processing the request for data using
another mechanism. And that mechanism depends on how your clients ask
for JSON data, and what code is serving or generating the JSON data.

 

[Peter Brooks]

While I don't understand exactly what you're using JSON for, and nor do
I understand the purpose of the JSON structure you posted, I can say
that ACLs have nothing to do with JSON.

JSON is simply a data markup format, like HTML, XML, plain text, or an
INI file.  It's merely data.  If you want to restrict who sees what when
they request a chunk of data formatted using JSON, then you have to
enforce that in the code that's processing the request for data using
another mechanism.  And that mechanism depends on how your clients ask
for JSON data, and what code is serving or generating the JSON data.

Yes, you're right, I know that. However, I want the permissions
embedded in the data so that it's easy to verify, from the data, who
has access to which objects. The reason is to enforce transparency of
the access rights and to make them easy to grant and change without
needing to make any coding changes.

My question was whether anybody had taken a similar approach and found
a way that worked well with python or, even better, if there was a
standard way of doing this.

If nobody has done this, then I'm happy to invent my own method, but I
don't really want to reinvent wheels that might have been nicely
designed already.

 

[Peter Brooks]

Not exactly what you want but you may consider Google ACL XML[1].

If there aren't any system integration restrictions you can do what you think it's best... for now.

[1]https://developers.google.com/storage/docs/accesscontrol#applyacls

Thank you for the reference. I specifically don't want to use XML
itself, but I can adapt that to my purpose - great!

 

[Carlos Nepomuceno]

You welcome! Can you send me whatever you decide is best to your case?

I'd like to have an example just in case I have to do that in the future.

I think that approach is gonna become more prevalent in the coming years.

----------------------------------------

Date: Fri, 24 May 2013 12:08:03 -0700
Subject: Re: Using ACLs in JSON
From: (e-mail address removed)
To: (e-mail address removed)

Not exactly what you want but you may consider Google ACL XML[1].

If there aren't any system integration restrictions you can do what you think it's best... for now.

[1]https://developers.google.com/storage/docs/accesscontrol#applyacls

Thank you for the reference. I specifically don't want to use XML
itself, but I can adapt that to my purpose - great!