Markus Stumpf wrote:
On Thu, Dec 18, 2003 at 05:24:23PM -0500, David Maxwell wrote:
Markus Stumpf <maex-lists-spam-ietf-asrg(_at_)Space(_dot_)Net> wrote:
But with the presumption of innocence each one should be allowed to send
a mail to another person on the internet without some authority blocking
it by default "just because".
Is the ability to send SMTP email a right, or a privilege?
Is the ability to drop a letter in a postbox a right, or a privilege?
And what is the difference to a drivers license?
What you are refering is commonly known as the "end to end" principle. A
quote from an IAB draft is relevant here
(http://www.iab.org/documents/drafts/draft-iab-e2e-futures-04.txt):
While the end to end principle does not require that users implicitly trust
each other, the lack of trust in the Internet today requires that application
and system designers make a choice about how to handle authentication, whereas
that choice was rarely apparent 15 years ago. One of the most common examples
of network elements interposing between end hosts are those dedicated to
security: firewalls, VPN tunnel endpoints, certificate servers, etc. These
intermediaries are designed to protect the network from unimpeded attack or to
allow two end nodes whose users may have no inherent reason to trust each other
to achieve some level of authentication. At the same time, these measures act
as impediments for end to end communications.
and the IAB's view on the matter:
Third party trust intermediaries
are not a requirement for security, as end to end security mechanisms, such at
PGP [15], can be used instead, and where third party measures such as PKI
infrastructure or keys in DNS are utilized to exchange keying material, they
don't necessarily impinge on end to end traffic after authentication has been
achieved. Even if third parties are involved, ultimately it is up to the
endpoints and their users in particular, to determine which third parties they
trust.
Yakov
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Yakov Shafranovich / asrg <at> shaftek.org
SolidMatrix Technologies, Inc. / research <at> solidmatrix.com
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely" (Lord
Acton)
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