These are the key decisions from the msgtrk meeting at the 42nd IETF,
August 27 1-3 p.m.:
Messages will be tracked from the time they enter the messaging network up until the
point they are delivered to their end destination, which may include an end-user's
mailbox, an IMAP server, a distributuins list, or a proprietary system.
Only originators will be able to track their own messages (with delegation as an option).
A sender is trusted, and a recipient is not.
The group discussed material for the message tracking model document and suggested
changes to the proposed Charter.
Model
The architectural model might entertain these three possibilities:
1) A sender requests and gets status reports for each delivery hop from the
messaging system
2) A sender requests traceability and then later asks the messaging system for status
of the message
3) Each MTA in the delivery path sends DSN-style info via UDP (or other
lightweight mechanism) to a "tracking server" which is also queried later
The trust model might employ a hash of the message ID and the sender's key, and
involve a "challenge/response" between the message tracking user and message
tracking server.
Sections of the model document should include
1) How is message tracking enabled ?
2) When do you find out the tracking information ?
3) Whom do you ask ?
- What is the protocol for asking ?
- What security is used wheh asking ?
Model should describe the possible states a message will be in that would make
tracking possible or valuable. For example, if messages are in one of the three states
a.) not yet sent
b.) delivered or
c.) transfer that doesn't last long, then it will not be necessary to design a message
tracking mechanism.
However, if there are large "intranets" connected together that are divided by firewalls,
then there will be a need to trace messages that travel between those intranets.
The model document should include a requirements section and a "security
considerations" section. Since only originators can track their own messages, need to
decide whether originators can delegate this authority to someone else and how.
Discuss how to trace messages across administrative boundaries and firewalls.
None received