ietf-dkim
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Re: [ietf-dkim] Base-02 //Deprecated Signature Version & New List

2006-06-22 10:52:20
There are many reasons I don't like this proposal. Let me start with the easily fixed ones:

(1) Overloading existing tags to add new functionality is absurd. Adding "d" to the end of the version has nothing to do with the version; this should be a flag. Similarly, changing the n= tag (which is supposed to be nothing more than human-readable "note" text) to have additional semantics is bizarre; it should be a new tag.

(2) I'm getting a bit tired of seeing new terms used that have never been defined. What's a VAQ value? Based on Google it seems to mean "Value Added Quest" (a competition for all West Australian students). Or maybe Soctiabank's "Value Added Quarterly". It's also a military abbreviation for "Naval Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron" (derivation unclear). Oh wait, maybe it means the values of the v=, a=, and q= tags. Now why not just say that in the first place?

And the more basic issue:

(3) Wasn't the issue of downgrade attacks discussed in Dallas and resolved on the list? In specific, it was issue 1196 (Upgrade indication and protection against downgrade attacks). As near as I can tell, the exact same issues that Doug is raising were discussed in this issue, and a frankly much more elegant approach was proposed. Why is this issue alive again?

eric
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