WWW distribution of private information with watermarking

This paper considers the use of browser plugins and Java code (within standard HTTP mechanisms) to serve private confidential documents securely over the World Wide Web to a group of mobile or otherwise distributed users. Web security mechanisms typically require use of either an underlying security system for transport mechanism (e.g., SSL) alternate servers and data streams (e.g., S-HTTP), security-oriented plugins within the browser, or helper applications. The method described operates by providing a per-user security mechanism coded in Java which operates as part of a standard Web-browser environment. This system appears to be very appropriate for serving lower-security, non-public documents, files and images to a group of heterogeneous users over the World Wide Web. It can also be appropriate in circumstances where the standard security mechanisms are not available. We also describe an adaptation which provides automatic per-user watermarking of decoded pages to allow identification of the decoder.