Policy appliances
Encyclopedia
Policy appliances are technical control and logging mechanisms to enforce or reconcile policy
rules (information use rules) and to ensure accountability in information systems. Policy appliances can be used to enforce policy or other systems constraints within and among trusted systems.
The emerging global information society
consists of many heterogeneous but interconnected systems that are governed or managed according to different policies, rules, or principles that meet local information management needs. For example, systems may be subject to different international, national or other political subdivision information disclosure or privacy
laws; or different information management or security
policies among or between government agencies, government and private sector information systems, or producers and consumers of proprietary information or intellectual property
, etc.
This interconnected network of systems (for which the Internet
as we currently know it serves as the transport layer
) increasingly requires dynamic agreement (negotiation) and technical mediation as to which policies will govern information as it flows between or among systems (that is, what use policies will govern what information goes where, under what constraints, and who has access to it for what purposes, etc.). The alternative to developing these mediating mechanisms to provide automated policy negotiation and enforcement across interconnection between disparate systems is the increased "balkanization" or fragmentation of the Internet.
Because no single policy can govern all systems or information needs, methods of reconciling differences between systems and then enforcing and monitoring agreed policies are necessary in order to share useful information and keep systems interconnected. Current static methods based on all-or-nothing access control
are insufficient to meet variable information production and consumption needs, particularly when there are potentially competing policies (for example, the conflict between disclosure and privacy laws) that are contextually dependent. Access control mechanisms that simply control who has access between systems result in stove-piped information silos, "walled gardens", and increased network fragmentation. Policy appliance is a general term to describe dynamic, contextually-aware control mechanisms currently being researched and developed to enforce use policies between systems.
Although policy development and enforcement itself is a political or cultural process, not a technological one, technical systems architecture can be used to determine what policy opportunities exist by controlling the terms under which information is exchanged, or applications behave, across systems. In order to maintain the open transport, end-to-end principle
s embedded in the current Internet design – that is, to avoid hard-coding policy solutions in the transport layer or using strict access control regimes to segment the network – policy appliances are required to mediate between systems to facilitate information sharing, data exchange, and management process
interoperability.
Policy appliances -- a generic term referring to any form of middleware
that manages policy rules -- can mediate between data owners or producers, data aggregators, and data users, and among heterogeneous institutional systems or networks, to enforce, reconcile, and monitor agreed information management policies and laws across system (or between jurisdictions) with divergent information policies or needs. Policy appliances can interact with smart data (data that carries with it contextual relevant terms for its own use), intelligent agent
s (queries that are self-credentialed, authenticating, or contextually adaptive), or context-aware applications to control information flows, protect security and confidentiality, and maintain privacy.
Policy appliances support policy-based information management processes by enabling rules-based processing, selective disclosure, and accountability and oversight.
Examples of policy appliance technologies for rules-based processing include analytic filters, contextual search, semantic programs, labeling and wrapper tools, and DRM
, among others; policy appliance technologies for selective disclosure include anonymization, content personalization, subscription and publishing tools, among others; and, policy appliance technologies for accountability and oversight include authentication
, authorization, immutable and non-repudiable logging, and audit tools, among others.
Control and accountability over policy appliances between competing systems is becoming a key determinant in policy implementation and enforcement, and will continue to be subject to ongoing international and national political, corporate and bureaucratic struggle. Transparency, together with immutable and non-repudiable logs, are necessary to ensure accountability and compliance for both political, operational and civil liberties
policy needs. Increasingly, international and national information policy and law will need to rely on technical means of enforcement and accountability through policy appliances.
project. See Presentation by Dr. John Poindexter, Director, Information Awareness Office
(IAO), DARPA, at DARPA-Tech 2002 Conference, Anaheim, CA (Aug. 2, 2002); ISAT 2002 Study, Security with Privacy (Dec. 13, 2002); and IAO Report to Congress regarding the Terrorism Information Awareness Program at A-13 (May 20, 2003) in response to Consolidated Appropriations Resolution, 2003, No.108-7, Division M, §111(b) [signed Feb. 20, 2003].
Policy
A policy is typically described as a principle or rule to guide decisions and achieve rational outcome. The term is not normally used to denote what is actually done, this is normally referred to as either procedure or protocol...
rules (information use rules) and to ensure accountability in information systems. Policy appliances can be used to enforce policy or other systems constraints within and among trusted systems.
The emerging global information society
Information society
The aim of the information society is to gain competitive advantage internationally through using IT in a creative and productive way. An information society is a society in which the creation, distribution, diffusion, use, integration and manipulation of information is a significant economic,...
consists of many heterogeneous but interconnected systems that are governed or managed according to different policies, rules, or principles that meet local information management needs. For example, systems may be subject to different international, national or other political subdivision information disclosure or privacy
Privacy
Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively...
laws; or different information management or security
Information security
Information security means protecting information and information systems from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, perusal, inspection, recording or destruction....
policies among or between government agencies, government and private sector information systems, or producers and consumers of proprietary information or intellectual property
Intellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
, etc.
This interconnected network of systems (for which the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
as we currently know it serves as the transport layer
Transport layer
In computer networking, the transport layer or layer 4 provides end-to-end communication services for applications within a layered architecture of network components and protocols...
) increasingly requires dynamic agreement (negotiation) and technical mediation as to which policies will govern information as it flows between or among systems (that is, what use policies will govern what information goes where, under what constraints, and who has access to it for what purposes, etc.). The alternative to developing these mediating mechanisms to provide automated policy negotiation and enforcement across interconnection between disparate systems is the increased "balkanization" or fragmentation of the Internet.
Because no single policy can govern all systems or information needs, methods of reconciling differences between systems and then enforcing and monitoring agreed policies are necessary in order to share useful information and keep systems interconnected. Current static methods based on all-or-nothing access control
Access control
Access control refers to exerting control over who can interact with a resource. Often but not always, this involves an authority, who does the controlling. The resource can be a given building, group of buildings, or computer-based information system...
are insufficient to meet variable information production and consumption needs, particularly when there are potentially competing policies (for example, the conflict between disclosure and privacy laws) that are contextually dependent. Access control mechanisms that simply control who has access between systems result in stove-piped information silos, "walled gardens", and increased network fragmentation. Policy appliance is a general term to describe dynamic, contextually-aware control mechanisms currently being researched and developed to enforce use policies between systems.
Although policy development and enforcement itself is a political or cultural process, not a technological one, technical systems architecture can be used to determine what policy opportunities exist by controlling the terms under which information is exchanged, or applications behave, across systems. In order to maintain the open transport, end-to-end principle
End-to-end principle
The end-to-end principle is a classic design principle of computer networking which states that application specific functions ought to reside in the end hosts of a network rather than in intermediary nodes, provided they can be implemented "completely and correctly" in the end hosts...
s embedded in the current Internet design – that is, to avoid hard-coding policy solutions in the transport layer or using strict access control regimes to segment the network – policy appliances are required to mediate between systems to facilitate information sharing, data exchange, and management process
Process management
Process management is the ensemble of activities of planning and monitoring the performance of a process. The term usually refers to the management of business processes and manufacturing processes...
interoperability.
Policy appliances -- a generic term referring to any form of middleware
Middleware
Middleware is computer software that connects software components or people and their applications. The software consists of a set of services that allows multiple processes running on one or more machines to interact...
that manages policy rules -- can mediate between data owners or producers, data aggregators, and data users, and among heterogeneous institutional systems or networks, to enforce, reconcile, and monitor agreed information management policies and laws across system (or between jurisdictions) with divergent information policies or needs. Policy appliances can interact with smart data (data that carries with it contextual relevant terms for its own use), intelligent agent
Intelligent agent
In artificial intelligence, an intelligent agent is an autonomous entity which observes through sensors and acts upon an environment using actuators and directs its activity towards achieving goals . Intelligent agents may also learn or use knowledge to achieve their goals...
s (queries that are self-credentialed, authenticating, or contextually adaptive), or context-aware applications to control information flows, protect security and confidentiality, and maintain privacy.
Policy appliances support policy-based information management processes by enabling rules-based processing, selective disclosure, and accountability and oversight.
Examples of policy appliance technologies for rules-based processing include analytic filters, contextual search, semantic programs, labeling and wrapper tools, and DRM
Digital rights management
Digital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...
, among others; policy appliance technologies for selective disclosure include anonymization, content personalization, subscription and publishing tools, among others; and, policy appliance technologies for accountability and oversight include authentication
Authentication
Authentication is the act of confirming the truth of an attribute of a datum or entity...
, authorization, immutable and non-repudiable logging, and audit tools, among others.
Control and accountability over policy appliances between competing systems is becoming a key determinant in policy implementation and enforcement, and will continue to be subject to ongoing international and national political, corporate and bureaucratic struggle. Transparency, together with immutable and non-repudiable logs, are necessary to ensure accountability and compliance for both political, operational and civil liberties
Civil liberties
Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...
policy needs. Increasingly, international and national information policy and law will need to rely on technical means of enforcement and accountability through policy appliances.
See also
See also, Technology, Security, and Privacy: The Fear of Frankenstein, the Mythology of Privacy, and the Lessons of King Ludd, 7 Yale J. L. & Tech. 123; 9 Intl. J. Comm. L. & Pol'y 8 (2004) at 56-58 (discussing “privacy appliances” to enforce rules and provide accountability). The concept of privacy appliances originated with the DARPA Total Information AwarenessInformation Awareness Office
The Information Awareness Office was established by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in January 2002 to bring together several DARPA projects focused on applying surveillance and information technology to track and monitor terrorists and other asymmetric threats to national security,...
project. See Presentation by Dr. John Poindexter, Director, Information Awareness Office
Information Awareness Office
The Information Awareness Office was established by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in January 2002 to bring together several DARPA projects focused on applying surveillance and information technology to track and monitor terrorists and other asymmetric threats to national security,...
(IAO), DARPA, at DARPA-Tech 2002 Conference, Anaheim, CA (Aug. 2, 2002); ISAT 2002 Study, Security with Privacy (Dec. 13, 2002); and IAO Report to Congress regarding the Terrorism Information Awareness Program at A-13 (May 20, 2003) in response to Consolidated Appropriations Resolution, 2003, No.108-7, Division M, §111(b) [signed Feb. 20, 2003].