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RFC 2979: This RFC is worded far too broadly. In particular, the...

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Comment by Geoff Kuenning
Submitted on 12/18/2003
Related RFC: RFC 2979
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This RFC is worded far too broadly. In particular, the phrase "afirewall is entitled to block any sort of access that a site deemsillegitimate" allows complete freedom to censor. In combination withthe ability to act as a protocol endpoint, and with RFC 2821'sdefinition of an SMTP "gateway", any SMTP relay anywhere in theInternet can arbitrarily redefine itself as a gateway and beginchanging how it handles mail based on the content of that mail.This danger is not a theoretical one. There are already sites (e.g.,smtp.ucla.edu) that are content-filtering e-mail and justifying itbased on the wording of RFC 2979. I believe that the wording must berewritten to make it clear that a TCP-based SMTP site MUST NOT alterits behavior in relaying to other TCP-based SMTP sites based on thecontent of the message body. Otherwise, the firewalling language willbe used by totalitarian governments to justify blocking messages theyfind objectionable.

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