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  From: Andrew Reid <andrew.reid@plug.cx>
  To  : Anthony Sutton <asutton@xavier.sa.edu.au>
  Date: Fri, 31 May 2002 09:40:06 +0930

Re: Popup Message

On Thu, May 30, 2002 at 02:42:55PM +0930, Anthony Sutton wrote:

> At the present moment I have changed the proxy_auth_realm in squid to
> display a message regarding acceptable use of our system. It doesn't
> appear fully on all machines. Is it possible to get squid to popup a
> window when you authenticate to give people a message?

proxy_auth_realm isn't designed to pass lots of information to the
client machine. It's just to let the user know what they're
authenticating to.

Ick. The problem that you've got here is that you'll have a bunch of
very unhappy customers if you install functionality that creates a
pop-up window (using, say, JavaScript) every time they open a webpage
asking them to be good network citizens.

What you seem to want is a notice saying,

	"By authenticating to the Xavier College web cache, you are
	 accepting the following terms and conditions:

	   * Only download porn in free lessons

	   * Download recipes for explosives only during chemistry

	   * Blah, blah, blah"

That should only be displayed the first time a user authenticates to
the system.

Perhaps what you should consider doing is tying down your browsers on
the workstations (see the Netscape CCK or IEAK for Internet Explorer)
so that they can

	* Only use the 'net through the proxy server (for accounting
	  purposes, if nothing else).

	* Always be given a page of your choosing as the homepage

Put your terms and conditions up on the default homepage that you set
with either the CCK or IEAK.

Personally, I think that having a list of "Terms and Conditions" come
up on the default homepage is plain rude. Perhaps you should think
about taking an alternative path to disseminate your terms and
conditions of Internet usage to your users.

   - andrew

-- 
| Andrew Reid [mailto:andrew.reid@plug.cx]
| Network Wrangler, Bit Herder
| C: +61-401-946-813  F: +61-8-8379-1093

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