Dave Crocker wrote:
Yakov,
When you are dealling with a twenty year old protocol you are likely
to find that the reason it is failing is that the original layering
design was inappropriate for current uses.
YS> I am not sure this is true in this case.
It is often true. It is often false.
Age usually means a protocol is well-understood and useful. Whether
its functional and operational model suffice of course depends.
So when talking about Internet mail, it is always more useful to
discuss features than are needed than to blast the existing system.
When we know what functions we need and we have consensus about that,
we can see whether the existing technical base will support it. Only
when we find it can't is it reasonable to focus on the creakiness and
insufficiency of that base.
The basic problem is here is lack of trust. All of these mechanisms are
trying to establish whether a given MTA is to be trusted more.
Therefore, it seems to me that the feature we are seeking to add to
email is a way to exchange trust information.
Yakov