METHOD OF MANAGING ROLE-BASED DIGITAL RIGHTS IN A COMPUTER SYSTEM

A computer system manages role-based digital rights by creating a chain of trust that originates with a user who purports to act as a registration authority whose status can be verified to ascertain that the user is licensed to act as the registration authority. The registration authority creates an organization account and a first member whose status is verified by consulting a status verification server. Derivative authorities granted to members are predicated on the first member and ultimately the registration authority to ensure that there is a chain of trust linking each member of an organization back to the registration authority.