Policy based slice deletion in a dispersed storage network

A processing system of a dispersed storage network comprises:

• at least one processor;
• a memory that stores operational instructions, that when executed by the at least one processor cause the processing system to:
• determine one or more slice names of one or more slices to consider for deletion;
• determine an access policy corresponding to the one or more slices that includes a time varying accessibility pattern;
• determine a current timestamp;
• determine whether there is no future slice availability for the one or more slices, based on the current timestamp and the access policy;
• when there is no future slice availability for the one or more slices:
• determine whether reconsideration regarding deletion of the one or more slices is available based on the access policy;
• delete the one or more slices when the reconsideration is determined to be unavailable;
• when the reconsideration is determined to be available:
• send a reconsideration request message to a reconsideration entity;
• receive a reconsideration response message in response;
• and
• delete the one or more slices when the reconsideration response message indicates that the reconsideration is denied.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprises:

• at least one memory section that stores operational instructions that, when executed by a processing system of a dispersed storage network (DSN) that includes a processor and a memory, causes the processing system to:
• determine one or more slice names of one or more slices to consider for deletion;
• determine an access policy corresponding to the one or more slices that includes a time varying accessibility pattern;
• determine a current timestamp;
• determine whether there is no future slice availability for the one or more slices, based on the current timestamp and the access policy;
• when there is no future slice availability for the one or more slices:
• determine whether reconsideration regarding deletion of the one or more slices is available based on the access policy;
• delete the one or more slices when the reconsideration is determined to be unavailable;
• when the reconsideration is determined to be available:
• send a reconsideration request message to a reconsideration entity
• receive a reconsideration response message in response;
• and
• delete the one or more slices when the reconsideration response message indicates that the reconsideration is denied.