Ever since Internet became convenient for file transfer and/or file sharing, there has been a need to guard the integrity of information, such as document, text, photo, picture, video, chat, etc., from tampering or unauthorized use. Much Internet security software, such as Norton Internet Security by Symantec and McFee Security by McFee Inc., have been offering security functions to guard computers from virus attack, malware, identify theft, phishing, spam, spyware, and firewall breaks.
There are computer software saving a document in read-only format prevents readers from editing its content. For example, Adobe Acrobat has security settings to configure PDF files so that anyone can read them but only certain individuals who know the password can make edits.
There are computer software and service such as Dropbox, Google Drive, Apple's iCloud, Citrix's ShareFile provide file sharing and data storage with password-protected cloud storage to store and exchange large files.
The two biggest concerns about cloud storage for file sharing are reliability and security. Users are not likely to entrust their data to another company without a guarantee that they will be able to access their information whenever they want and no one else will be able to get at it.
One problem associate with the read-only document is that although readers cannot make any changes to the text, margins or graphics, they can print these files and distribute them freely. Giving password to general public is simply impractical.
The other problem with today's Internet security software is that they protect files stored in computers but offer no extended protection once the file left the computer, off to Internet, and transferred on to other computers. In other words, the information in the computer file once posted on to a remote web site and/or cloud computing servers its access and use by others is unknown and also a concern to the sender.
Another problem is that users do not know whether the posted information is stayed at the intended location or is forwarded to or copied by unknown 3rd party for unauthorized use.
Thus, it is desirable to solve some of the problems associated computer files with a rule-based privacy protection mechanism
It would be advantageous to provide a secure and private computer file that is self-manageable upon a set of user defined access rules
It would also be advantageous to provide a secure and private computer file that has life span or life cycle perspective
It would further be advantageous to provide a secure and private computer file that can lock, close, delete, and track itself when unauthorized use is attempted to it.