Patent ID: 7845000

Claim:
A method of validating access rights to a collection of digital data created by a first client station, the collection being designated by a unique collection identifier and comprising a list of digital data items to share with one or more second client stations each identified by a different unique client station identifier, said method being implemented on a central server station in a communication network of a hybrid peer-to-peer type, comprising the steps of: receiving, from the first client station, a request to validate the collection of digital data, said request containing said collection of digital data, said collection comprising the unique collection identifier and, for each data item belonging to the collection, a data identifier designating said data item, and at least one representation of said data item, the representation being obtained from said data item and said unique collection identifier; for each received data identifier, locally obtaining a local representation of the data item depending on said data item and on the unique collection identifier of the received collection; and for each data item of the collection, comparing the received representation with the locally obtained representation and, in a case where the comparison results in a match, validating said digital data item in question to be shared, wherein the validating comprises ensuring that said first client station possesses or can rightfully access each data item of the collection.