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Re: [ietf-smtp] Fwd: New Version Notification for draft-crocker-email-deliveredto-05.txt

2021-08-08 19:43:44
On 8/8/2021 10:02 AM, Alessandro Vesely wrote:

The new syntax looks puzzling:

    "Delivered-To:"  FWS *phrase Mailbox *phrase CRLF
                     ; Mailbox is from [SMTP]

The presence of phrases around the Mailbox makes this field difficult to parse.  Without angle brackets, the presence of an unquoted "@" being the only difference.  It is puzzling because phrase usage is neither discussed nor exemplified, and IME not seen in the wild.

The draft is attempting cover existing practice. We've had only a few examples with detail supplied.

It is clear that one of the popular uses is to record the RCTP-To address. It is also clear that there are other strings recorded:

     Delivered-to: something(_at_)domain(_dot_)com
     Delivered-To:virtual-taugh-johnl(_at_)taugh(_dot_)com

And one that I'm not finding now, which had some free-form text, preceding a string conforming to email syntax. This is what motivated the 'enhanced' syntax. I don't recall its having the angle-bracket, though yes, that creates a parsing challenge.

We've also had the comment:
On 8/3/2021 10:10 PM, Viktor Dukhovni wrote:
In Postfix, the address that is presently recorded is the result of any
internal rewriting such as mapping"First(_dot_)Last(_at_)example(_dot_)com"  to 
some internal
"uid(_at_)mailstore1(_dot_)example(_dot_)com", that may not correspond to any 
public address
of the recipient.

but we have not been shown a resulting Delivered-to example's details, to ensure covering its syntax in the draft.


*5.  Security Considerations*

I'd explicitly note that users concerned abut divulging their final recipient address should be wary about forwarding messages as

Because such a warning will have no effect.

The existing text notes that this field creates potential PII disclosure concerns. PII disclosure is a complex topic and no short note, buried in an obscure specification, is going to improve system behaviors.


attachment, e.g. when complaining about spam, because the topmost Delivered-To:'s can betray secret addresses.  How about recommending that MUAs provide a tool to remove that info?

1. Same answer as above

2. It is thoroughly inappropriate for an IETF document to recommend the details of MUA behavior that are not specific to protocol compliance.



*7.  Experimental Goals*

It is not clear whether implementations that are already recording Delivered-To: into messages but not exactly as specified in the I/D are supposed to change their code in order to comply rather than comment to the mailing list about their discrepancy.

Implementations that seek to conform to the specification should conform to the specification. All other aspects of implementations are out of scope.

d/


--
Dave Crocker
Brandenburg InternetWorking
bbiw.net

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