Public and Private Data
All data saved in library members is either private or public. When saving a member, the user specifies whether the saved data is private or public (the user profile specifies the default data type).
Private data may be read by all users who have access to the library with that data, but it may be modified only by the user who wrote the data initially.
Public data is accessible for reading and updating by all users who may access the library with the data. The public or private status of data may be altered via the /PROTECT command.
With alternate security, private data may be accessed, for any purpose, only by the creator of that data. Public data, however, may be read by anyone who has access to the library but modified only by the one who created the data. The concept of alternate security is discussed under Protection of Data.