[ietf-dkim] Re: 1: 1 and assertions about third parties

[Michael Thomas]

John L wrote:
>> There's an infinite variation of things that inept system managers
>> can do. If they misuse SSP why is that so very different inept sysadmins
>> who run open relays?
> 
> Because open relays don't purport to provide information useful in 
> handling mail.  Since you apparently agree that a significant fraction 
> of SSP info will be wrong, how is a receiver supposed to tell useful SSP 
> from useless SSP?

   In both cases, it leads to the receiver throwing away potentially
   useful mail so the inept sysadmin gets pretty much what they deserve.
   So why even worry about it at all? When they fix their configuration,
   you'll start receiving from the again. Lots of people do exactly that
   with open relays after all and I don't see a whole lot of
   hand-wringing about that.

> If you need a reputation system to decide whether to use someone's SSP, 
> why wouldn't you just put the useful info into the reputation system and 
> forget about SSP?

   First party information is not the same as third party information.
   Both are useful, both have their limitations.