Re: [dmarc-ietf] ARC vs reject

[Alessandro Vesely <[e-mail]>]

On Sun 06/Dec/2020 02:20:47 +0100 Douglas Foster wrote:
> 4) On the future of ARC:   The idea is harmless, but I do not see it 
> achieving the list-industry goal of eliminating From rewrite.  It actually 
> reminds me of DKIM without DMARC - a technology looking for an algorithm to 
> which it can contribute.    Since nobody can articulate how a recipient uses 
> ARC information to reach an expected conclusion, something important is still 
> missing.    As I wrote in my last post, I think it fails to provide enough 
> information for a useful algorithm to be defined.    Even if that can be 
> solved, there are bigger problems.  We have no algorithm for a list to know if 
> a particular recipient uses ARC, or whether it will use the ARC information to 
> draw the desired conclusion about list messages.   Without those answers, 
> the list is doomed to continue From rewrite even if when it would not be 
> necessary.   And much of this is about AOL in particular, and the currently 
> available information suggests that AOL is not on board with ARC.


I agree with the above analysis.

I'd add that ARC is most useful to large sites that develop a global reputation 
system, as ARC allows to fine tune message attribution and thereby adjust the 
very computation of reputation.  On the opposite, small sites may have problems 
trusting last hop's ARC data.  They can still seal forwarded mail, though.

As far as working around From: rewriting is concerned, given the premises 
quoted above, the only way is to reverse such rewriting upon final message 
delivery.


Best
Ale
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