To determine whether digital content can be released to an element such as
a computer application or module, a scaled value representative of the
relative security of the element is associated therewith, and the digital
content has a corresponding digital license setting forth a security
requirement. The security requirement is obtained from the digital
license and the scaled value is obtained from the element, and the scaled
value of the element is compared to the security requirement of the
digital license to determine whether the scaled value satisfies the
security requirement. The digital content is not released to the element
if the scaled value does not satisfy the security requirement.