Subject: [secdir] [new-work] WG Review: SPF Update (spfbis)

From: IESG Secretary <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2011 09:19:04 -0800 (PST)

A new IETF working group has been proposed in the Applications Area.  
The IESG has not made any determination as yet. The following draft 
charter was submitted, and is provided for informational purposes only. 
Please send your comments to the IESG mailing list ([email-masked]) by 
Tuesday, December 27, 2011                             

SPF Update (spfbis)
-----------------------------------------
Status: Proposed Working Group
Last Updated: 2011-12-09

Chair(s):
 TBD

Applications Area Director(s):
 Pete Resnick <[email-masked]>
 Peter Saint-Andre <[email-masked]>

Applications Area Advisor:
 Pete Resnick <[email-masked]>

Mailing Lists:
 General Discussion:[email-masked]
 To Subscribe:	https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/spfbis
 Archive:	http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/spfbis/

Description of Working Group:

The Sender Policy Framework (SPF, RFC4408) specifies the publication
of a DNS record which states that a listed IP address is authorized
to send mail on behalf of the listing domain name's owner.  SMTP
servers extract the domain name in the SMTP "MAIL FROM" or "HELO"
command for confirming this authorization.  The protocol has had
Experimental status for some years and has become widely deployed.
This working group will revise the specification, based on deployment
experience and listed errata, and will seek Standards Track status for
the protocol.

The MARID working group created two specifications for publication of
email-sending authorization:  Sender-ID (RFFC4405, RFC4406 and RFC4407)
and SPF (RFC4408), with both having Experimental status.  By using
IP addresses, both protocols specify authorization in terms of path,
though unlike SPF, Sender-ID uses domain names found in the header of
the message rather than the envelope.

The two protocols rely on the same policy publication mechanism,
namely a specific TXT resource record in the DNS.  This creates a basic
ambiguity about the interpretation of any specific instance of the TXT
record.  Because of this, there were concerns about conflicts between
the two in concurrent operation.  The IESG Note added to each invited
an expression of community consensus in the period following these
publications.

Both enjoyed initially large deployments.  Broad SPF use continues,
and its linkage to the envelope -- rather than Sender-ID's linkage
to identifiers in the message content -- has proven sufficient among
operators.  This concludes the experiment.

Changes to the SPF specification will be limited to the correction
of errors, removal of unused features, addition of any enhancements
that have already gained widespread support, and addition of
clarifying language.

The working group will also produce a document describing the
course of the SPF/Sender-ID experiment (defined in the IESG note
on the RFCs in question), bringing that experiment to a formal
conclusion.  No other work on Sender-ID will be done.

Finally, the working group will develop the proposed "scope"
extension found in draft-mehnle-spfbis-scope.

Specifically out-of-scope for this working group:

* Revisiting past technical arguments that were covered
  in the MARID working group, except where review is reasonably
  warranted based on operational experience.

* Discussion of the merits of SPF.

* Discussion of the merits of Sender-ID in preference to SPF.

* Extensions to SPF other than the one specified above.  The
  working group will re-charter to process other specific proposed
  extensions as they are identified.

The initial draft set:
	draft-kitterman-4408bis
	draft-mehnle-spfbis-scope

Goals and Milestones:

MMM YYYY:  A standards track document defining SPF, based on RFC4408 and 
           as amended above, to the IESG for publication.

MMM YYYY:  A document describing the SPF/Sender-ID experiment and its 
           conclusions to the IESG for publication.

MMM YYYY:  A standards track document creating the "scope" extension to 
           the IESG for publication.

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