Authorizing distributed task processing in a distributed storage network

A distributed storage (DS) module of each DS unit of a set of DS units, the DS module comprises:

• a first module, when operable within a computing device, causes the computing device to:
• transmit a set of requests to other DS units of the set of DS units, wherein a request of the set of requests includes requesting a response regarding a respective data element of a set of data elements from a respective one of the other DS units, and wherein the set of requests are generated in accordance with a current distributed task/data responsibility allocation period, wherein, collectively, the set of DS units contains a plurality of sets of data elements;
• a second module, when operable within the computing device, causes the computing device to:
• receive a respective request from each of the other DS units to produce a set of respective requests;
• and
• when each of the set of respective requests is in accordance with the current distributed task/data responsibility allocation period:
• generate a response to each respective request of the set of respective requests to produce a set of responses;
• and
• send the set of responses to the other DS units;
• and
• a third module, when operable within the computing device, causes the computing device to:
• receive a respective response from each of the sets of responses from the other DS units such that the each DS unit receives a set of respective responses from the other DS units;
• and
• when the set of respective responses is in accordance with the current distributed task/data responsibility allocation period, process the set of respective responses in accordance with the current distributed task/data responsibility allocation period to produce one of a set of results such that the set of DS units produces the set of results regarding the plurality of sets of data elements.