At 20:09 11/09/03, Harald Tveit Alvestrand wrote:
--On 9. september 2003 13:41 +0200 jfcm <info(_at_)utel(_dot_)net> wrote:
We have a major spam problem and a solution I wish to discuss here as it
fits the mission of no IETF group as I understand it (this for Harald).
Jefsey,
your suggested message format seems very similar to the
"message/external-body" feature that has been part of MIME from the beginning.
Thi sis true. But as far I understand there are only two options:
1. the address is to be to a mail server. xxx(_at_)wwww(_dot_)xx and then access
commands in the core of the text
2. or there are a limited set of formated entries in the header.
The weemail's need is for a free format extended header - for customized
parameters.
as far as I can tell this suggestion is also already partially implemented
by spammers, in the form of "the main spam is in a picture embedded in the
HTML that is sent as email". I haven't seen any great benefits accruing
from that in the form of making it more expensive to spam.
Yes. This is why the external-body seems not to be a solution. There is no
information which can be passed to the mail agent for its own
decision/filtering. It is a centralized process?
the restriction part turns weemail into a "gated community", where you
have to have gatekeepers/converters between the weemail and the rest of
the world, to convert mail into and out of "weemail" form. This violates
the end-to-end principle of email (which is near the root of many of our
problems with spam, but is also the main reason why the Internet mail
system won out over X.400, PROFS and oh-so-many other mail systems).
Yes and no. Yes if the filtering is made at a gateway. No if the filtering
is made at the end. This is an option of the filters to be supported by
MTA, OPES or by the agen user.
when the gated community is larger than the rest of the world, this starts
getting really interesting. But I don't see that there is a way to get
there from here.....
True for the Global Internet Community. Not necessarily for Private/Local
Internet Communities.
This is aslo the old "dump net/smart host vs smart net/dump terminals"
story. As community oriented we are more interested in "smart net/smart
host". This is true, you may see/object to it both ways.
Nevertheless I am intrested in knowing about library suppliers and mail
agent providers supporting message/external-body?
Thank you.
jfc