Microsoft's email proposal returned to sender

NEWS In August, Microsoft had feted more than 80 e-mail service providers in Redmond, Wash., as part of the E-mail Service Provider Consortium. Between the company's participation in that group and the Anti-Spam Technical Alliance, Microsoft has done a good job of selling major Internet infrastructure companies on the benefits of its proposal.

Sundwall would not say whether the IETF's censure would hinder the company's quest to get its Sender ID proposal accepted as a de facto Internet standard. But he did note that many participants stayed out of the vote on Microsoft's involvement.

"If you look at the number of contributors that (voted), it is very small," he said.

Sender ID would create a system to positively identify whether the source address of an e-mail message is the actual source of the message. The proposal is based on a previous scheme, known as the Sender Policy Framework, or SPF, which had been suggested by Meng Wong, the founder of e-mail service provider Pobox.com. Microsoft later proposed its own way of authenticating the source of e-mail, called Caller ID for E-mail, and a hybrid system was created.

The use of Microsoft's technology in the combined specification would mean the company could specify a license that potential users have to agree to before using the code. Microsoft has instead provided a license that appears to be voluntary, according to the analysis of some users of Sender ID. Microsoft has not provided guidance on the issue.

Industry participants in the IETF say that Microsoft may be content to let PRA be one option to the standard. But unless the e-mail recipient's software supports the format as a check of authenticity, it is likely that the proposed protocol will die.

"Microsoft has a couple of choices now," said Craig Taylor, vice president of technology for e-mail device maker IronPort Systems. "They can continue pushing for (PRA to become) the de facto standard or donate the patents to the open-standards guys."

Taylor added the IronPort has no issues with the license under which Microsoft intends to release the PRA technology, so the company plans to use the Sender ID proposal with PRA.

The ruling appears to allow for negotiation, if Microsoft considers removing licensing restrictions.

"We do feel that future changes regarding the patent claim or its associated license could significantly change the consensus of the working group, and at such a time it would be appropriate to consider new work of this type," the co-chairs said in the e-mail message.