[Emailcore] Re: [secdir] possible solve for the emailcore AS

[Nico Williams <[e-mail]>]

On Sun, May 03, 2026 at 10:13:20PM +0200, Eliot Lear wrote:
> I wonder if we could look at all of this through a different lens.  The idea
> is to consider the dropping of email to be a local policy decision. Viewed
> through that lens, perhaps there's some wording that could be agreed.  So
> take this as a straw man upon which to build:
> 
> What email to drop *MUST* be considered a local policy decision in
> accordance with a wide range of administrative needs.  Not accepting email
> that does not use STARTTLS is no exception to this rule.  Local policy
> choices  [may/*MAY*] be implemented in code, but are often implemented as
> configuration for versatility's/generality's sake.  At the time of this
> writing, a substantial installed base does not use STARTTLS, and therefore
> those not permitting email without STARTTLS should expect to drop at least
> some mail.
> 
> Or something like that...

This is an argument for how the current text does not require accepting
cleartext email, which... is something I'm sure everyone here will agree
with should the text remain: you can't be made to accept cleartext
email.  But that's not the issue.  The issue is that if an
implementation adheres to this AS then it MUST be possible to configure
it to accept cleartext email.  Still, your point is abundantly clear:
the ability to reject cleartext email, and even defaulting to that
setting, should be more than enough to allay the concerns here.  I.e.,
you've laid bare that the concerns stated are not particularly severe.

Nico
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