Thank you for very detailed analysis of our solution.

We decided to implement a signed applet because we cannot expect each user of our application to change their policy settings.
This is beyond what the average (non-technical) person could or would do, signing the applet was the easier and most user friendly solution.
Our identity is clearly stated on the applet certificate (also verified by the certificate issuer) and as you attested our code is not malicious in any way.
As far, I we know, once an applet is signed it is automatically granted AllPermissions, unless there is a specific client-side policy in place for that Applet.
If you know of another way to limit permissions while still providing a certifiable and simple solution for the end user, we would love to learn about it.

If a more restrictive environment is necessary, SnapABug permissions can be limited as follow:
grant {
permission java.awt.AWTPermission “accessClipboard”;
permission java.awt.AWTPermission “accessEventQueue”;
permission java.awt.AWTPermission “createRobot”;
permission java.awt.AWTPermission “readDisplayPixels”;
permission java.net.SocketPermission “snapabug.appspot.com”, “connect”;
permission java.lang.RuntimePermission “modifyThread”;
permission java.lang.RuntimePermission “modifyThreadGroup”;
};

Thanks,
The TimZon team.