A minor comment on wording.
Many SPF developers and users consider that Microsoft's SenderID proposal is
technically unsound and undermines the progress already begun by SPF.
SenderID is not "Microsoft's proposal", it is a joint effort between some SPF
supporters and Microsoft. SenderID includes BOTH PRA and SPF-classic. We
probably should make it clear that we think Microsoft's PRA is technically
unsound and not SPF classic.
SenderID is not just about PRA and not just about MS. If PRA turns out to be
useless, SenderID still has a good chance of success. There is more SPF in
SenderID than there is CallerID :)
I agree with much of the pledge but I disagree with other parts. For example,
I don't agree with this:
"PRA" (Purported Responsible Address) as it is implemented within SenderID,
has many technical problems that make it unsuitable for use in the real
world. Whilst this technical aspect was not the sole contributor to the
demise of the MARID working group it played a key role in acting as a major
stumbling block for many.
In my opinion, PRA hasn't seen enough testing to declare that it is or isn't
suitable for real-world use. Perhaps it will be found to be useful, perhaps
not. Whether or not PRA turns out to be useful, I certainly don't believe
that PRA's technical problems played ANY role in MARID's demise, let alone a
"key" role.
Anyway, this is just my opinion. I'm not trying to change anyone's mind, I'm
just stating my views. I feel that MS licensing terms make their part of
SenderID pretty much useless, so if there were a statement just talking about
the license terms I would probably sign that.
I personally feel that it's a waste of time and effort to even worry about
what MS is doing. We should be spending our time and effort making SPF work
better and teaching people to implement it correctly and publishing SPF
success stories. For those people who feel strongly anti-PRA and want to
spend their time and effort on that, more power to them. For myself, I will
be focusing on SPF.
--
Greg Connor
gconnor(_at_)nekodojo(_dot_)org
Everyone says that having power is a great responsibility. This is a lot
of bunk. Responsibility is when someone can blame you if something goes
wrong. When you have power you are surrounded by people whose job it is
to take the blame for your mistakes. If they're smart, that is.
-- Cerebus, "On Governing"