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To: spock(_at_)RSA(_dot_)COM, ietf-smime(_at_)imc(_dot_)org,
gaond(_at_)ncr(_dot_)disa(_dot_)mil
Date: Tue Apr 15 22:44:56 1997
In the world of peer-to-peer store-and-forward communications (e.g.
email) there really is no negotiation possible at "start of
communications". This is especially evident in the case of a multicast
message, i.e. sending a message to a bunch of recipients.
In such an environment, negotiation can be done either out of band
beforehand (e.g. by looking up some entries in a directory) or via
exchange of email by the end users who are not always savvy enough to
effectively negotiate encryption algorithms and key sizes. It was our
intent when creating S/MIME to provide some base level of
interoperability possible among all S/MIME-enabled user agents (i.e.
the "MUSTS") and an easy path to negotiating the use of the strongest
possible encryption where both ends are capable (i.e. the "SHOULDS").
-steve
Since certificates are in any case a prerequisit, supported/prefered
algorithms could be published as extended properties of an X509.
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