On Oct 8, 2007, at 4:54 PM, Keith Moore wrote:
Tony Finch wrote:
On Thu, 4 Oct 2007, Keith Moore wrote:
the vast majority of domains won't be able to use DKIM without
seriously impairing their users' ability to send mail.
You seem to be assuming that the vast majority of domains have
really shitty message submission servers or connectivity.
It's a combination of several things - one, requiring that a domain
operate its own mail submission servers which sign their mail (and
all that that implies, like maintaining the private keys). Two,
many domains will be too small to develop enough of a reputation to
be whitelisted, and any spammer can create a temporary domain which
will have about as good a reputation as the vast majority of those
domains.
Three, as long as people use Windows boxes, spammers will be able
to compromise them and hijack them to use them to originate mail on
behalf of their domains, thus degrading those domains' reputation.
So basically if you're a small domain, you're SOL. If you're a
large domain, people can't afford to blacklist you unless you
originate a lot of spam anyway.
Keith,
The DKIM component that establishes reputation is being discussed
within the DKIM WG. The DKIM signature offers an alternative to the
IP address which serves as perhaps the only other assured basis for
reputation. Of course the IP address also shares all of these
problems. A DKIM signature can help avoid some of the reputation
problems associated with shared use of an IP address (which is a
larger problem for smaller domains). For larger domains, there might
be some concern related to replay abuse, where again, smaller domains
also enjoy an advantage in being able to squelch compromised systems.
Don't be too quick to condemn DKIM. There should be a simple
mechanism which allows email-domains to autonomously authorize DKIM-
domains. This feature should defray some of your concerns.
Delegating a zone of one's domain would be expensive to manage but is
currently the only means now permitted.
-Doug
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