Abstract: A mechanism for dynamically constructing service implementations to enforce restrictions on services provided to an application is disclosed. When an application desires an implementation for a particular service, the application makes a request to a framework. The framework receives the request and, in response, determines what restrictions, if any, need to be imposed on the requested implementation. Once the restrictions are determined, the framework dynamically constructs the requested implementation. The requested implementation is constructed such that it incorporates a general implementation of the service, the restrictions, and enforcement logic for enforcing the restrictions on the general implementation. Once the requested implementation is constructed, it is provided to the application. Thereafter, the application invokes the requested implementation directly for services.

Abstract: The legitimacy of an untrusted mechanism is verified by submitting a first set of information and a second set of information to the untrusted mechanism in an unpredictable sequence. For each submission of either the first set or the second set of information, a response is received from the untrusted mechanism. Each response is tested to determine if the response is correct for the information set submitted. If any of the responses from the untrusted mechanism is incorrect, then it is determined that the untrusted mechanism is not legitimate. Because the submission sequence is unpredictable, it is highly difficult if not impossible for an illegitimate untrusted mechanism to “fake” proper responses. As a result, this verification process provides an effective means for testing and verifying the legitimacy of the untrusted mechanism.

Abstract: An object oriented mechanism for dynamically constructing service implementations to enforce restrictions on services provided to an application is disclosed. When an application desires an implementation for a particular service, the application makes a request to a framework. The framework receives the request and, in response, determines what restrictions, if any, need to be imposed on the requested implementation. Once the restrictions are determined, the framework dynamically constructs the requested implementation. The requested implementation is constructed such that it incorporates a general implementation of the service, the restrictions, and enforcement logic for enforcing the restrictions on the general implementation. Once the requested implementation is constructed, it is provided to the application. Thereafter, the application invokes the requested implementation directly for services.

Abstract: A mechanism for determining restrictions to impose on an implementation of a service is disclosed. When an application desires an implementation for a particular service, the application makes a request to a framework. The framework receives the request and, in response, determines what restrictions, if any, need to be imposed on the requested implementation. The restrictions are determined by determining whether any permissions have been granted to the application requesting the implementation, and if so, processing the permissions to derive a set of zero or more restrictions to impose on the implementation. The permissions are processed such that the set of restrictions is least restrictive. Once the restrictions are determined, the framework dynamically constructs the requested implementation. The requested implementation is constructed such that it incorporates a general implementation of the service, the restrictions, and enforcement logic for enforcing the restrictions on the general implementation.

Abstract: A mechanism for merging multiple source policies to derive a resultant policy is disclosed. The source policies, which may represent sets of laws/regulations, and which may comprise zero or more entries with each entry comprising an identifier and a set of one or more limitations, are merged by first selecting a current entry in a first source policy. Then a determination is made as to whether there is an entry in a second source policy which corresponds to the current entry. If so, then the limitations in the current entry are processed with the limitations in the corresponding entry to derive a set of resultant limitations. The limitations are processed such that the resultant limitations comprise the most restrictive limitations of the current entry and the corresponding entry. By doing so, it is ensured that the resultant limitations comply with both the first and the second source policies.