On Fri, 4 Mar 2005, David MacQuigg wrote:
The question now for me is whether to spend any more time in the other
thread talking about a universal protocol that would allow the different
"frameworks" to work together. Is SenderID such a mess that it will be
difficult for everyone to adapt, or will it become the defacto standard?
SenderID *could* be synergistic with SPF since it validates rfc2822
headers whereas SPF validates rfc2821. You really need both.
The business about using existing SPFv1 records which provide
sender policy for MAIL FROM and pretending they are really talking
about rfc2822-From is really bad - but not fatal. If that is the
only problem, we can all just grumble, grumble, and add an spf2.0
record to DNS.
SenderID actually competes with DomainKeys and other 2822 schemes.
The new SES protocol validates both 2821 and 2822, so it is in the
running. Using both IP bases (SPF,SenderID) and crypto
based (DK,SES) validation makes the system more robust, so ultimately
I would like to see SPF+SES used for MAIL FROM and SenderID+(SES or DK)
used for rfc2822 headers on Windows machines Since SenderID is patented,
open mailers will have SPF+SES fro MAIL FROM and SES or DK for 2822.
I don't see any point in developing a competitor to SenderID - there
is no track record for how well IP based validation of 2822 will work.
The PRA patent is one of those stupid ones ("How do we know who
this mail is supposed to be from? Duuhhh, look at the headers?"), so it could
be overturned by someone with enough money for lawyers.
Finally, even though SenderID doesn't compete technically with SPF,
there is the possibility that MS wants to crush it. So far, the damage
doesn't seem to be intentional. MS wants to be the dominant email
something or other provider (they talk about SenderID as "anti-SPAM",
but it isn't anymore than SPF), but I don't see how SPF stands in their
way. Of course, what matters is whether Bill thinks SPF stands in
their way.
--
Stuart D. Gathman <stuart(_at_)bmsi(_dot_)com>
Business Management Systems Inc. Phone: 703 591-0911 Fax: 703 591-6154
"Confutatis maledictis, flamis acribus addictis" - background song for
a Microsoft sponsored "Where do you want to go from here?" commercial.