ietf-dkim
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Re: [ietf-dkim] Author Signature vs. Author Domain Signature / Internal vs External threats

2009-04-02 11:59:50

From: ietf-dkim-bounces(_at_)mipassoc(_dot_)org 
[mailto:ietf-dkim-bounces(_at_)mipassoc(_dot_)org]
On Behalf Of Dave CROCKER

I think there are two sources of confusion for this round of ADSP discussion.

The first is that the term "Author Signature" encourages one to think that 
DKIM
is used to sign with the full author email address, rather than with the
/domain/ of the author's address.  We fixed that error in the name of the
document, but forgot to carry it through to the details of the spec.

DKIM is about domains, not email addresses.  And that's all ADSP should be.
Using i= encourages this cofusion.  Using "Author Signature" rather than 
"Author
Domain Signature" also encourages it.
[> ] 

I think you may have put your finger on the root of much of the interpretation 
differences. It might in fact be a really good idea to replace the term "Author 
Signature" with the term "Author Domain Signature" throughout the ADSP spec to 
help address this. It seems like the only real "author signature" would be a 
PGP type signature that is truly attached by the author rather than by some 
part of the email infrastructure on behalf of the author. Since the validated 
signing identity can only be a domain, it's inherently misleading to use a 
signature label that implies otherwise. I think we've all agreed that the 
information in i= is an assertion made by the signing domain rather than a 
validated signing identity in its own right, so we should make the spec 
terminology agree with that clarification. That doesn't denigrate the 
usefulness of that assertion data to various consumers, it just clearly 
distinguishes it from the identity/identifier of the signing entity itself. 


The specification and semantics of ADSP get simpler, cleaner and properly
scoped, when d= is used.  Using i= really does invite a complex of issues that
should be outside the scope of DKIM and ADSP.

Use d=.
[> ] 

+1



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