There has been some discussion regarding often violated third-party limitations 
of DMARC policy.  A modified version of http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6541 
where DMARC is used to signal ATPS support rather than inclusion of 'atps' tags 
within the DKIM signature can offer fewer use constraints.

The underlying goal of the ATPS hash was two-fold:

1) Ensure domain_queried + domain_authorized + additional overhead is 
deterministically ensured not to exceed the DNS maximum message size.  
Otherwise,  extending the message size entails complex additional steps that 
may not work in all cases.  Such handling adds complexity, especially when 
hashing must still be supported, but as an option.  Options should be avoided 
if possible to afford greater simplicity.

2) Minimize the overhead to improve DNS caching.

The ATPS effort predated DMARC.  DMARC is no different, in that a DMARC query 
is needed at a higher rate than that needed an ATPS scheme that lacks DKIM 
signature 'atps' tag signaling.   Since DMARC is where third-party policy is 
applied, adding a ATPS flag within the DMARC response offers a means to allow 
the DMARC (From header field) domain to permit specific exceptions.

For example say some social network wishes to protect users messages using 
DMARC while allowing participation with various third-party relay services, 
such as well managed mailing-lists.  ATPS provides a means for DMARC domains to 
make explicit exceptions and to react quickly when a problem is reported.

DMARC will be confronting the same IESG evaluation overhead concerns that 
forced the unscalable inclusion of DKIM modifications where every third-party 
service provider is somehow expected to know whether they have been authorized 
by the From domain and to then change the nature of their signature.  DMARC 
should have an easier time justifying the DNS overhead for every message when 
it can offer broader protection beyond just transactional messages.

I would like to thank Murray for moving this concept forward.  If those 
implementing DMARC think the ATPS concept can reduce inevitable issues caused 
by third-party relay services being used by various users, I would be happy to 
make the necessary changes to the existing rfc6541spec.  Since this 
specification has not been able to overcome the IESG DKIM signature tag 
signaling requirement, backward compatibility is certainly not an issue. 

My employer does extensive work in this area.  If there is interest, I might be 
able to prevail upon them to offer vetted ATPS hash lists to assist those 
wanting to provide less constrained use of their DMARC domains.

Regards,
Douglas Otis





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