In the draft Charter, we list specific input documents, one
of which is Bounce Address Tag Validation (BATV).
The draft Charter goes on to state:
|Discussion of enhancements with broader functionality or
|involving more extensive Internet mail infrastructure
|changes are out of scope for this Working Group.
Recently, on the SPF discuss list, a number of people have
come forward with an idea called Signed Envelope Sender
(SES).
This idea first surfaced quite early on, but was pushed to
the side when it was decided to go with the Sender
Rewriting System (SRS) as a work around to the problem with
breaking mail forwarding in checking mail from using SPF
records.
The concept is quite simple. Design an approach which
allows senders to digitally sign the SMTP mail from
address, so allowing for a DNS call back by the receiving
server to confirm the signature.
The design criteria? Any load imposed on the DNS system
must be extremely low to avoid overhead issues.
Why is this approach being put forward? Some people have
come to realize based on the experience over the summers
months:
* The market place is reluctant to implement SRS.
* A Submitter concept, although simpler, still involves
significant overhead issues.
* PRA is not a viable option for verifying the 2822 FROM
address.
* Checking "mail from" using DNS under Sender Policy
Framework may expose the DNS system to overload, so
resulting in system collapse with wide spread deployment.
Needless to say Meng Weng Wong has invited individuals who
support SES to get involved with CLEAR.
The thread where the topic was raised recently can be found
here:
http://archives.listbox.com/spf-discuss(_at_)v2(_dot_)listbox(_dot_)com/200410/001
2.html
To my mind there participation could be useful when this
group turns its attention to BATV.
However, it has been suggested by at least one individual
that SES would be beyond scope of the CLEAR charter.
I am not sure this is correct. Perhaps the BATV authors can
take a look at the issue and provide some guidance.
Thanks,
John
John Glube
Toronto, Canada
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