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IdM Policy Audit System

Overview | Monitor | Library | Client

A Policy Audit Client is a tool that uses the information collected by the Policy Monitor, and stored in the Policy Library. In most cases, a Policy Client will display policy information to users. The project assumes that Policy Audit Clients will be developed for various uses and, as a reference application, ISOC has developed a version as a Firefox plugin that displays policy information about the site a user is visiting.

ISOC Policy Audit Plugin:

The ISOC Policy Audit Plugin for Firefox accesses the Policy Library and alerts the user when they visit a website that publishes a policy that the Policy Monitor is tracking. The alert indicates whether or not the user has viewed the policy page(s) associated with the site. The user is able to easily view the policy page(s) from the alert icon displayed within the lower-right of their browser. If the policy page(s) changed since the last time they were viewed using the plugin, they are also presented with the ability to perform a "difference" comparison between the current version and the one they previously viewed.

Plugin Usage:

The ISOC Policy Audit Plugin runs in the background, comparing the site being visited to a database of tracked policies. The plugin displays a flag in the lower-right corner of the Firefox browser chrome:

When alerted that a tracked policy should be read, click the flag to see the context menu and select an option:

NOTE: When visiting a site that includes multiple iFrames, each iFrame URL is inspected for tracked policies. For example, when visiting a site such as the Washington Post, you will notice that you are alerted to view policies for Facebook. This is a feature of the plugin as the Washington Post site includes embedded iFrames that access Facebook content.

There are some configurable options available from the ISOC Policy Audit Plugin Settings window:

NOTE: The pre-installed URLs point to services being run by an IdM Policy Audit System collaborator agreeing to manage their service in a secure, and privacy-respecting manner. Users are provided with the opportunity to add URLs to other servers at their own discretion.

• Requirements: Firefox version 3.6 or newer
• Download: ISOC Policy Audit Plugin | Source Code
• Support: Discussion List Archive | Email Questions & Comments
• License: The ISOC Policy Audit Plugin is made available to end users with an End User License Agreement. The source code can be made available upon request under the Apache License 2.0.
• Privacy Statement: The ISOC Policy Audit Plugin stores your usage information within a local database, periodically sending HTTP "get" requests to retrieve information from the enabled Policy Library and Difference Engine servers. No personally identifiable information is sent by the plugin beyond what is sent by the browser.
  NOTE: This privacy statement only applies to the plugin. Servers running mirrors of the Policy Library may be logging access requests. Certified mirrors agree to log minimal data to support server maintenance and that log entries are frequently purged.

For more information on this project, contact J. Trent Adams (adams@isoc.org).

For more information on this project, contact J. Trent Adams (adams@isoc.org).