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Re: SMTP RFC: "MUST NOT" change or delete Received header

2014-03-31 02:36:45
On 31 March 2014 00:52, Randy Bush <randy(_at_)psg(_dot_)com> wrote:

the truth is, i have not used received: headers to authenticate/debug
[0] since yesterday.  but it's not yet 09:00, so there is still time
today.


I'm assuming you realise that nobody is arguing that all received header
fields be stripped?

The problem I've run into is generally machine [~auto] submitted email,
where the network itself is "sensitive" (let's pretend it's a big bank),
and the administrators don't wish to reveal anything about the network
location of said machine.

The trace fields stripped would be limited to (probably) one - that of the
original {trans|sub}mission. It'll also be (in practise) a constant modulo
the timestamp.

Does this change your point of view? If not, why would knowing about a
machine that's likely on private IP address space or otherwise on an
unrouted network be useful to you for debugging purposes?

If there's a problem with the mail, the big bank can track down what
happened easily enough, and you can point your finger at the correct big
bank.

Dave.
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