Re: Email Forwarder's Protocol ( EFP )

At 11:05 PM 2/27/2005 -0500, you wrote:

> On Sun, 27 Feb 2005, David MacQuigg wrote:
>
> > Anything we can do to make things flow smoothly, especially during the
> > adoption period.  How about
> > Return-Path: <BOUNCE>
>
> I haven't caught the part where you tell me why we need another thing
> like a DSN that is not a DSN?  Why not use a DSN?
The DSN goes to the Return-Path, which may be forged.  That is not a 
problem with most DSNs, but it is a serious problem with Bounces due to 
spam.  Until now, these Bounces have been sent to the Return-Path, but that 
practice is now becoming a problem.
Such practice has never been standardized, and in fact has been vigorously 
opposed by many organizations (like SpamCop).  Therefore we have no risk of 
"breaking" anything legitimate by defining a new class of Bounce messages, 
and a Bounce Path.
Anyone relying on Bounces as part of their current practice ( e.g. 
spamarrest.com challenge/response system ) can simply change the address of 
their Bounce.  If they continue their current practice, the negative impact 
would be increasing disapproval from unintended recipients of their 
challenges and increasing pressure from their clients to conform to the new 
standard.
Anyone ignoring Bounces as part of their current practice can now do so 
more easily, as the immediate recognition of a Bounce can be automated.  If 
they continue their current practice, the negative impact would be pressure 
from their clients to do something useful with the Bounces ( blocking, 
filtering, reporting, forwarding upstream ).  A reputable Forwarder will 
find Bounces not an annoyance, but a valuable statistical sample of the 
particular type of spam that is most annoying to their clients (i.e. new 
spam sources targeting their clients with spam clever enough to get past 
current blocking and filtering).
The proper handling of Bounces, as opposed to DSNs, may be a key enabler in 
efforts to terminate spam.  Recipients of email are the best judges of what 
is spam.  Rapid and effective feedback from recipients is vital.  See 
http://www.ece.arizona.edu/~edatools/etc/Spam%20Flows.txt for terminology 
and diagrams showing the flow of spam and Bounces.
-- Dave


*************************************************************     *
* David MacQuigg, PhD              * email:  dmq'at'gci-net.com   *  *
* IC Design Engineer               * phone:  USA 520-721-4583  *  *  *
* Analog Design Methodologies                                  *  *  *
*                                  * 9320 East Mikelyn Lane     * * *
* VRS Consulting, P.C.             * Tucson, Arizona 85710        *
*************************************************************     *

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