ietf-dkim
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[ietf-dkim] a bit of philosophy on working group productivity and scope

2005-08-14 09:40:02
Folks,


 what is the most minimal enhancement that would make
 you happy TODAY?

 define requirements that dkim satisfies, without
 actually saying anything about the details of dkim itself.

 Why the "most minimal" qualifier in your question?  We are capable of
 producing something more than the bare minimum.



Here is our current reality:  As of this moment, it is not clear that we are
capable of producing anything at all.

There is no existence proof for real success in this arena of
standardization. The DKIM effort has no track record of success in the IETF.

Until we change that, we are working with hopes and dreams, not reality.

When an effort starts, the more difficult the topic and the more diverse the 
participation, the higher the risk of standardization failure.  As with any 
high-risk project, the first goal needs to be to demonstrate usefulness, ie, 
success.

In the long run, we probably very much *can* produce something more than the 
bare minimum.  Something a lot more.

But first we need to do *anything at all* that is useful.

That means targeting the smallest bit of useful output that we can agree to, 
and 
*later* building upon it.

As of today, there is no standardized transit-time message authentication 
technique.  If we can produce a standard that permits validating ANY identity 
with a signed message, we will have created a stable base for all sorts of 
enhancements.

Enhancement obviously include: associating it will other identities in the 
message, using the *absence* of a signature as significant with respect to the 
policies of some identity, determining the wonderfulness of the signing 
identity 
(ie, using standardized access to reputation and accreditation services), and 
so 
on.

Until we have the core mechanism of signing a message and validating that 
signature, we have nothing but fantasy. 



  d/
  ---
  Dave Crocker
  Brandenburg InternetWorking
  +1.408.246.8253
  dcrocker  a t ...
  WE'VE MOVED to:  www.bbiw.net



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