Recording the return path (was Re: Clueless anti-virus products/vendors)

Mon Dec 12 11:08:14 UTC 2005

> > This assumes all messages are rejected within the SMTP session.
> 
> Yes, exactly and the point several of us have been making is that
> this is (a) easy (well, provided you're using a quality MTA; if not,
> then switch to one) (b) running a sane mail system (c) fast
> (d) resource-friendly and 

>(e) most important of all, the _only_ way to
> avoid sending UBE in response to forgeries (which are not going away
> any time soon or quite possibly ever).

Not quite the only way. If a postprocessing step is needed,
it is trivial for the SMTP server to record any return path info
that it knows in order for the post-processor to be able to
send DSN's as accurately as the SMTP server itself.

What we have here is yet another failure of imagination.

--Michael Dillon