One embodiment provides an access-control framework for publishing and obtaining a collection of encrypted data in encrypted form. During operation, a content consumer can obtain a Manifest object for a data collection, such that the Manifest includes references to a set of encrypted Content Objects of the data collection, and includes one or more Access Control Specifications (ACS) that each specifies a decryption protocol for decrypting one or more Content Objects of the data collection. The consumer can disseminate Interest messages to receive encrypted Content Objects listed in the Manifest over an Information Centric Network (ICN). The client can also obtain, from the Manifest, an ACS associated with a respective encrypted Content Object, and decrypts the respective encrypted Content Object using the decryption protocol specified in the ACS.