Method for indicating the integrity of a collection of digital objects

A method for associating a digital license with an executable, the method comprising the steps of:

• computing a respective hash value of the digital license and the executable;
• gathering the computed hash values into a binding file;
• digitally signing said binding file;
• and
• indicating the integrity of the association of the digital license with the executable by:
• validating the integrity of said binding file by its digital signature,
• computing a hash value of the digital license and a hash value of the executable;
• validating the integrity of the digital license by verifying a correspondence of its hash value with the corresponding hash value stored within the validated binding file;
• and
• validating the integrity of the executable by verifying a correspondence of its hash value with the corresponding hash value stored within the validated binding file.

A method of indicating the integrity of a number of a credit card, comprising the steps of:

• computing a hash value of a first digital object that includes the number of the credit card and an expiration date of the credit card;
• computing a hash value of a second digital object that includes a name of an owner of the credit card, a billing address of said owner and a current date;
• gathering said computed hash values into a binding file;
• and
• digitally signing said binding file.

A method of indicating the integrity of files in a computer folder, comprising the steps of:

• computing a respective hash value of each file;
• gathering said computed hash values into a binding file;
• digitally signing said binding file;and
• indicating the integrity of the files in the computer folder by:
• validating the integrity of said binding file by its digital signature;
• computing a hash value of each file in the computer folder;
• and
• validating the integrity of each file in the computer folder by validating a correspondence of its hash value with the corresponding hash value stored within the validated binding file.

A method for indicating the integrity of a collection of digital objects, the method comprising the steps of:

• sealing said collection of digital objects by:
• computing a hash value of each object of said collection;
• gathering the computed hash values into a binding file;
• and
• digitally signing said binding file;
• wherein said gathering further comprises including at least one additional digital object in the binding file;
• wherein said additional digital object comprises information with relevance to said collection of digital objects;
• and wherein said information is selected from the group comprising:
• information related to a type of one or more members of said collection of digital objects, an association between at least two members of said collection of digital objects, a license expression of at least one member of said collection of digital objects, signors of a contract, time related information.

A method for indicating the integrity of a collection of digital objects, the method comprising the steps of:

• sealing said collection of digital objects by:
• computing a hash value of each object of said collection;
• gathering the computed hash values into a binding file;
• and
• digitally signing said binding file;
• wherein said sealing includes including metadata about the objects of said collection in said binding file before said digital signing of said binding file.