ISOC Policy Audit Plugin Beta Evaluation – Call for participants #trust

Internet SocietyThe ISOC Trust & Identity Initiative is collaborating with the Department of Computer Science at the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU) on the development of an Identity Management Policy Audit System. The goal of the IdM Policy Audit System is to provide a simple way for end users to access and track the various policies governing the use of websites they visit.  This is accomplished using a suite of tools that monitor and store website usage policies as they change over time, and providing a mechanism for users to easily access this information.

Find details, and how to participate in the beta program, below.


The components of the system include:

  • Policy Monitor – The mechanism tracking known policies.
  • Policy Library – The repository of policy snapshots.
  • Policy Audit Client – A tool presenting policy information to the user.

Part of our contribution to the project was to develop a Policy Audit Client in the form of a Firefox plugin.  The plugin accesses the Policy Library and alerts the user when they visit a website that publishes a policy being tracked by the Policy Monitor. 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.

As a valued ISOC Member, we would like to invite you to participate in an evaluation of a beta version of the plugin in advance of the general release.  Specifically, we are looking for Members who have experience in browser plugin or other client application development to provide bug reports.  We will address the reported bugs and evaluate submitted feedback for incorporation into the general release.

The IdM Policy Audit System is currently a prototype research project. As such, the Policy Monitor component currently only tracks English-language policies published within the United States.  As such, we are looking for Members fluent in English and regularly use web sites inside the US.  Following the beta evaluation, code for the components will be released as a SourceForge project and we will solicit support to expand the system for international support.

For more information on the IdM Policy Audit System, please visit:

http://www.isoc.org/projects/idm_policy_audit_system/

To participate in the beta evaluation of the ISOC Policy Audit Plugin, please send an email to J. Trent Adams (adams@isoc.org) with the following information:

1. Your full name
2. Your preferred email address
3. Your ISOC Chapter affiliation

We will then send you a link to download and install the Firefox plugin.  As a participant in the beta evaluation, we will also add you to the system used to track bug reports and related feedback.  You will also be subscribed to an email list to discuss the plugin during the evaluation.

We are also holding two WebEx sessions to provide more information on the IdM Policy Audit System and our ISOC Policy Audit Plugin.  We invite you to participate in one of the sessions to learn more about the project, to ask questions, and to provide feedback.

A) Wednesday, August 18 at 10:00 UTC
B) Thursday, August 19 at 22:00 UTC

If you are interested in attending one of the sessions, please send an email to J. Trent Adams (adams@isoc.org) indicating the date of your preferred session.  Space is limited and upon confirmation you will receive the WebEx attendee information.

Following the beta evaluation of the plugin, we will release the code for the entire system under an open source Apache License 2.0.  At that time we will invite developers to contribute to the project and help improve it.  Even if you do not participate in the beta evaluation of the plugin, we hope you will join us to expand the reach of the prototype in support of the wider international audience.

We look forward to your participation.

Thank you,
J. Trent Adams
adams@isoc.org

Outreach Specialist, Trust & Identity
IdM Policy Audit System Project Manager