Patent ID: 7664949

Claim:
A method of certifying a distributable object, comprising: creating a certification for each distributable object using a computer, the certification containing: a description of one or more properties of the distributable object including at least one property of the distributable object other than those properties which are indicative of a source of the distributable object; a verifiable identification of an attesting entity who attests to said description; and a verifiable identification of the distributable object; making the certification available to potential users of the distributable object; referencing an authorization from a delegating entity in the certification using the computer, wherein the authorization authorizes the attesting entity to attest to one or more types of properties of the distributable object; and conditioning use of the distributable object based on the property of the distributable object other than those properties which are indicative of the source of the distributable object and based on the identities of the entity who attests to those properties using the computer.