[ietf-dkim] ADSP and Discardable (was Re: Lists "BCP" draft review)

[J.D. Falk]

On Jun 2, 2010, at 10:55 AM, John R. Levine wrote:

>> My guess is that the phrase "the domain encourages the recipient(s) to 
>> discard it" is intended to refer to a silent discard.
> 
> I don't think any of us expected the recipient to send a notification.  I 
> certainly didn't, since the assumption would be that the message was 
> probably from a hostile sender.

+1

Also, there's documented precedent within the IETF.  RFC 863 has a clear definition: "A discard service simply throws away any data it receives."  RFC 5321 (and 2821, and 821) applied that definition to email, with specifics for programmers:

> 2.3.6.  Buffer and State Table
> 
>    SMTP sessions are stateful, with both parties carefully maintaining a
>    common view of the current state.  In this document, we model this
>    state by a virtual "buffer" and a "state table" on the server that
>    may be used by the client to, for example, "clear the buffer" or
>    "reset the state table", causing the information in the buffer to be
>    discarded and the state to be returned to some previous state.

5321 uses "discard" or "discarded" in other places, too.

--
J.D. Falk <jdfalk at returnpath.net>
Return Path Inc