From: nobody@soda.berkeley.edu
Date: Mon, 1 Feb 93 22:35:41 PST
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Remailer abuse
Message-ID: <9302020633.AA16727@soda.berkeley.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


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From: Brad Huntting <huntting@glarp.com>

> Custom headers in RFC822 messages must begin with "X-".  Making up
> new headers that dont begin with "X-" is unnessary and violates
> the standard.

What RFC 822 actually says is this:
  
    4.7.4.  EXTENSION-FIELD
    
    	A limited number of common fields have been defined in
    this document.  As network mail requirements dictate, additional
    fields may be standardized.  To provide user-defined fields with
    a measure of safety, in name selection, such extension-fields will
    never have names that begin with the string "X-".
    
    	Names of Extension-fields are registered with the Network
    Information Center, SRI International, Menlo Park, California.
    
    4.7.5.  USER-DEFINED-FIELD
    
    	Individual users of network mail are free to define and
    use additional header fields.  Such fields must have names which
    are not already used in the current specification or in any
    definitions of extension-fields, and the overall syntax of these
    user-defined-fields must conform to this specification's rules for
    delimiting and folding fields.  Due to the extension-field
    publishing process, the name of a user-defined-field may be pre-empted.
    
    Note: The prefatory string "X-" will never be used in the names of
    Extension-fields.  This provides user-defined fields with a protected
    set of names.

I must say, this is a refreshingly non-facist RFC.  There are few of
the prohibitions which we are accustomed to seeing in these "laws of
the net".  In particular, users can use any header fields they want,
as long as they aren't already used; they only risk being made obsolete
if their chosen field names become used.  That's why people use X-.

Hal
74076.1041@compuserve.com

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