This is an IRTF group. It is presumably, therefore, intended to focus
on activities that are likely to be reasonable candidates for format
and/or protocol standardization.
Not at all. The objective of this research group is to stop spam.
There is no commitment whatsoever to mechanism. If we discover that
the best way to fight spam is to burn incense in front of a small
pyramid shaped altar we publish that in the appropriate forums and
close up shop.
A null result is a perfectly valid conclusion from a research
group, in this case a null result might be that the problem is
best solved by means entirely outside the ambit of the IETF.
I suspect however that even if it is found that filtering is
the one and only solution that there will be optimizations on
filtering that can be deployed that make filtering work better.
In particular some form of intrinsic mechanism that allows the
email client better control over filter parameters is needed.
Inband signaling by mail is tedious.
There are also many improvements to SMTP and other protocols that
can improve the situation. In many cases these improvements have
already been specified and what is required is deployment.
Clearly there is a general expectation that protocol changes are
likely to be proposed. Otherwise there would be no point at all
in putting up with the overhead that the IETF creates. The main
reason for choosing this forum over another such as OASIS is that
the IETF has in the past had influence over the development of
SMTP, POP etc. If everyone thought the answer lay in better APIs
for mail the IETF is the last place I would go - and come to that
there is no way the IESG would let a project like that start
(remember GSSAPI?)
Phill
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