Hi, I’ve been following the safe project since the crowdfunding and have invested a few dollars.
even though I haven’t posted anything or asked anything i’m very excited and anxious about the
possibilities and I’ve been to the forum almost everyday. that being said.
I work in IT with the Public Defender in California where our data is extremely sensitive and as IT I have to keep data accessible to lawyers, investigators, support staff and experts for viewing and modifying but I also need to control the data. giving some access to certain things and being able to take that access away at any point in case a laptop/tablet/phone is compromised.
I get that data is encrypted and secure but will there be an easy way to control who, what and when others have access to my data? can I make it so that they can’t copy a file to their local disk (I can do this now)? if they access something thru let say word how sure will I be that there’s no copy on their cache or memory? if this was part of the safe network it would make big waves in the government sector where we pay an incredible amount of money for storage just so that we can sleep well at night. after they tell us our sensitive data is secure.
At the moment, no, but yes entirely possible. This is the opposite of SAFE which is where individuals are in complete control of all their data. What you are looking for is a different login system we call Managed Authentication. This is where user groups are added and controlled in a N+P configuration where for instance a CEO can add directors, but the directors can get together and replace the CEO and their access. Each level can add more people and completely control what they see and do.
This is part of another set of technology though, but yes very possible. The company that own that is Sigmoid which was created many years back for corporate use and something we have not pursued although there is interest. We are unlikely to progress this though and will likely sell of that technology to further fund MaidSafe through more innovations. It’s all back burner for now though, but yes it is all possible, but as I say it’s the opposite proposition of being managed as opposed to being free. It would suit very large groups of hierarchical organisations. I am sure somebody will take this up at some stage and provide it on top of SAFE, just not likely to be us (or more specifically me 
).
Great to hear from you @vcp200!
Yes you can do this, in a similar way that you would with dropbox or Google Docs. You will be able to create a directory (folder) and specify who can see what it contains.
can I make it so that they can’t copy a file to their local disk (I can do this now)?
No, just as on the web, if someone views a file in a browser they can save it, take a screenshot etc. I don’t know what system you are using that can do this now, but it is obviously an application that has features built into it to prevent saving or screen captures. This is quite tricky to provide, and would need to be done by a special application or browser plugin, and would not be able to use the standard data sharing feature I mentioned above, because giving access using that would allow people to make copies.
if they access something thru let say word how sure will I be that there’s no copy on their cache or memory? if this was part of the safe network it would make big waves in the government sector where we pay an incredible amount of money for storage just so that we can sleep well at night. after they tell us our sensitive data is secure.
That sounds like a great opportunity for an application developer, perhaps the vendors of the system you currently use could interface it with SAFE Network.
Yes you will need locked hardware for sure. Other methods are questionable, being able to remote wipe is important and the best way is to never have data on the device 
Thank you both for your replies,
we have a lot of challenges containing and controlling sensitive information, personal information about our clients that we want secured but at the same time having people that will help (attorneys, experts) have access to it when needed. I attended a security and future technologies conference yesterday and wasn’t impressed after knowledge about what you guys are trying to do here. keep up the work guys looking forward to what you can do.
I’ve been following MaidSafe because working for the Public Defender I know what kind of information is available about anyone.
anyways,
get to work! I want to use this thing already! 