At 11:20 30-07-2009, Cheney, Edward A SSG RES USAR USARC wrote:
I am requesting comments on the following this internet draft. Any
questions, confusion, feedback, or changes would be helpful.
In the Introduction section:
"SAFE Scripting Method has only two intended objectives:"
I cannot tell what "SAFE" is. That is not explained in the
Introduction or in the following paragraphs.
The third requirement in the draft is for a certificate
authority. That can be a hurdle in terms of adoption.
"Allowing script execution in email is absolutely necessary to provide
a minimal expectation of user experience and interaction, as well as
promoting the advancement of data and commerce exchange."
Script execution in email has proven to be problematic. Although it
is done on the server side, that does not reduce the risks as you
still face the upgrade issue as the servers do not get updated that
often. The proposal also assumes an "always-on" connectivity for the client.
Could you please explain what this proposal has to do with SMTP? The
draft mentions "mail server". That term general encompasses several
email-related protocols.
"This is inherently a security centered document."
A security centered document generally has some security
considerations. You could discuss the problem areas and how the
security issues may be mitigated. BTW, don't think of security
issues only in terms of where the code is running. Some of the
plights of email is due to content.
Remove encryption and digital certificates from the model and
determine what the threats are. Then think about how you would
address them. You can use encryption and digital certificates then
but you should spell out what they are being used for. Digital
certificates by themselves do not have any credibility for some types of users.
Regards,
-sm