Patent ID: 8732800

Claim:
A method of centralized policy control comprising: reading information, by a processor, from a database including a plurality of directives, the plurality of directives including criteria, wherein the plurality of directives include conflicting directives; selecting, by the processor, at least one resource based on the criteria, wherein the at least one resource is identified by the criteria, wherein the plurality of directives includes a list of principals who can access the at least one resource; resolving, by the processor, the plurality of directives that are conflicting directives by applying a function to obtain at least one action that is free of conflicts, wherein the function applies set arithmetic including at least one of intersect function, union function, and subtraction function, wherein the at least one action that is free of conflicts includes access controls that are free of conflicts; and performing, in accordance with the plurality of directives, the at least one action by the processor on the at least one resource or on a metadata associated with the at least one resource, wherein performing, in accordance with the plurality of directives, the at least one action comprises applying the access controls that are free of conflicts to the metadata associated with the at least one resource, the metadata having access controls that are free of conflicts applied thereon blocking anyone other than the principals on the list from accessing the at least one resource.