dsig:Design Principles


  1. The specification must describe how to use XML syntax to represent a signature over digital content (and XML content in particular).
  2. XML-signatures are generated from a hash over a list of references and the digest value of the references' content.
  3. The meaning of a signature is simple:  The XML-signature syntax associates the content of resources listed with a key via a strong one-way transformation.
    • The "P3P Assurance Profile" Note explores the question of adding semantics to signatures.