Re: [perpass] Another mail-related proposal

[Paul Wouters <[e-mail]>]

On Sat, 17 Aug 2013, Jim Fenton wrote:

> There might be times when I'm interested in sending a message that I'd
> rather not be in the clear on the wire, and I'd rather that the message
> bounce rather than be sent in the clear. How about an SMTP option that
> allows a sender to specify whether the message transmission requires (1)
> TLS and (2) that the receiving MTA also enforce this option. It could
> also specify whether the recipient MTA is required to have a certificate
> trusted (e.g., via trust chain) by the sending MTA, or whether any TLS
> negotiation (e.g., self-signed cert) is OK.

I'd argue it the other way. If you publish a OPENPGPKEY/SMIMEKEY record,
then you ONLY want to receive encrypted email. The problem is trying to
prevent receiving it, as most email servers are message based and they
have to accept the full message before rejecting it, at which point the
cleartext has gone over the network and the NSA has a copy even if you
don't.

The postfix TLSA record fails hard for this reason - but that's the
transport security, not data security.

Paul