ietf-nntp Clients should be able to set the Path

[Rich Salz <[e-mail]>]

An earlier message gave a real-world example where someone needed to set
the Path to avoid hassles, or possible legal problems.  You might think
it stupid but that doesn't matter -- it's a real-world case.

I can imagine other cases that might arise such as "I do not want this
article to enter the official Usenet gateway for Singapore or China."
(Both countries have such official gateways, or will soon.)  Now, you can
argue that this should be China's issue, not the readers.  But you'd be
wrong, pragmatically.  Ever been a dissident?  I haven't, but I've heard
some speak.  Is this a likely scenario?  I don't know.  Is it possible?
Most definitely.

I can imagine another case where I use my ISP account and put "!osf.org"
in the path because it could adversely affect my standing at work. Sure,
others could mail the article, but at least I have plausible deniability
in those cases.  Again, possible.

There are probably other scenarios.

Now, in order to catch spammers, many people on this list are willing to
"make impossible" all of the above.  I believe, quite strongly, that they
are wrong.  I see no reason to define a protocol that sacrifices much in
the name of fictitious perfect accountability.  (As long as ISP's give
out free disks, you will never get there.)  I consider the people who argue
against my position to be in the same league as those who support the
US policies on cryptography.
	/r$