Network Working Group                                         C. Malamud
Request for Comments: 3865                           Memory Palace Press
Category: Standards Track                                 September 2004


        A No Soliciting Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)
                          Service Extension

Status of this Memo

  This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
  Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
  improvements.  Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
  Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
  and status of this protocol.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

  Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2004).

Abstract

  This document proposes an extension to Soliciting Simple Mail
  Transfer Protocol (SMTP) for an electronic mail equivalent to the
  real-world "No Soliciting" sign.  In addition to the service
  extension, a new message header and extensions to the existing
  "received" message header are described.
























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RFC 3865                     No Soliciting                September 2004


Table of Contents

  1.  Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
      1.1.  The Spam Pandemic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
      1.2.  No Soliciting in the Real World. . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
      1.3.  No Soliciting and Electronic Mail. . . . . . . . . . . .  5
  2.  The No-Soliciting SMTP Service Extension . . . . . . . . . . .  6
      2.1.  The EHLO Exchange. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
      2.2.  Solicitation Class Keywords. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
            2.2.1.  Note on Choice of Solicitation Class Keywords. .  8
      2.3.  The MAIL FROM Command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
      2.4.  Error Reporting and Enhanced Mail Status Codes . . . . . 10
      2.5.  Solicitation Mail Header . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
      2.6.  Insertion of Solicitation Keywords in Trace Fields . . . 11
      2.7.  Relay of Messages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
      2.8.  No Default Solicitation Class. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
  3.  Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
  4.  IANA Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
      4.1.  The Mail Parameters Registry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
      4.2.  Trace Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
      4.3.  The Solicitation Mail Header . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
  5.  Author's Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
  6.  References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
      6.1.  Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
      6.2.  Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
  Appendix A.  Collected ABNF Descriptions (Normative) . . . . . . . 18
  Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
  Full Copyright Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19























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RFC 3865                     No Soliciting                September 2004


1.  Introduction

1.1.  The Spam Pandemic

  Unsolicited Bulk Email (UBE), otherwise known as spam, has become as
  one of the most pressing issues on the Internet.  One oft-quoted
  study estimated that spam would cost businesses $13 billion in 2003
  [Ferris].  In April 2003, AOL reported that it had blocked 2.37
  billion pieces of UBE in a single day [CNET].  And, in a sure sign
  that UBE has become of pressing concern, numerous politicians have
  begun to issue pronouncements and prescriptions for fighting this
  epidemic [Schumer][FTC].

  A variety of mechanisms from the technical community have been
  proposed and/or implemented to fight UBE:

  o  Whitelists are lists of known non-spammers.  For example, Habeas,
     Inc. maintains a Habeas User List (HUL) of people who have agreed
     to not spam.  By including a haiku in email headers and enforcing
     copyright on that ditty, they enforce their anti-spamming terms of
     service [Habeas].

  o  Blacklists are lists of known spammers or ISPs that allow spam
     [ROKSO].

  o  Spam filters run client-side or server-side to filter out spam
     based on whitelists, blacklists, and textual and header analysis
     [Assassin].

  o  A large number of documents address the overall technical
     considerations for the control of UBE [crocker-spam-techconsider],
     operational considerations for SMTP agents [RFC2505], and various
     extensions to the protocols to support UBE identification and
     filtering [danisch-dns-rr-smtp][daboo-sieve-spamtest][crouzet-
     amtp].

  o  Various proposals have been advanced for "do not spam" lists, akin
     to the Federal Trade Commission's "Do Not Call" list for
     telemarketers [FTC.TSR].

Terminology

  The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
  "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
  document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14, RFC 2119
  [RFC2119].





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RFC 3865                     No Soliciting                September 2004


1.2.  No Soliciting in the Real World

  Municipalities frequently require solicitors to register with the
  town government.  And, in many cases, the municipalities prohibit
  soliciting in residences where the occupant has posted a sign.  The
  town of West Newbury, Massachusetts, for example, requires:

     "It shall be unlawful for any canvasser or solicitor to enter the
     premises of a resident or business who has displayed a 'No
     Trespassing' or 'No Soliciting' sign or poster.  Further, it shall
     be unlawful for canvassers or solicitors to ignore a resident or
     business person's no solicitation directive or remain on private
     property after its owner has indicated that the canvasser or
     solicitor is not welcome" [Newbury].

  Registration requirements for solicitors, particularly those
  soliciting for political or religious reasons, have been the subject
  of a long string of court cases.  However, the courts have generally
  recognized that individuals may post "No Soliciting" signs and the
  government may enforce the citizen's desire.  In a recent case where
  Jehovah's Witnesses challenged a registration requirement in the city
  of Stratton, Connecticut, saying they derived their authority from
  the Scriptures, not the city.  However, the court noted:

     "A section of the ordinance that petitioners do not challenge
     establishes a procedure by which a resident may prohibit
     solicitation even by holders of permits.  If the resident files a
     'No Solicitation Registration Form' with the mayor, and also posts
     a 'No Solicitation' sign on his property, no uninvited canvassers
     may enter his property... " [Watchtower].

  Even government, which has a duty to promote free expression, may
  restrict the use of soliciting on government property.  In one case,
  for example, a school district was allowed to give access to its
  internal electronic mail system to the union that was representing
  teachers, but was not required to do so to a rival union that was
  attempting to gain the right to represent the teachers.  The court
  held that where property is not a traditional public forum "and the
  Government has not dedicated its property to First Amendment
  activity, such regulation is examined only for reasonableness"
  [Perry].

  The courts have consistently held that the state has a compelling
  public safety reason for regulating solicitation.  In Cantwell v.
  Connecticut, the Supreme Court held that "a State may protect its
  citizens from fraudulent solicitation by requiring a stranger in the
  community, before permitting him publicly to solicit funds for any
  purpose, to establish his identity and his authority to act for the



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  cause which he purports to represent" [Cantwell].  And, in Martin v.
  City of Struthers, the court noted that "burglars frequently pose as
  canvassers, either in order that they may have a pretense to discover
  whether a house is empty and hence ripe for burglary, or for the
  purpose of spying out the premises in order that they may return
  later" [Martin].  The public safety issue applies very much to email,
  where viruses can easily be delivered, in contrast to telephone
  solicitations where public safety is not nearly as much an issue.

  This analysis is U.S.-centric, which is partly due to the background
  of the author.  However, the concept of prohibiting unwanted
  solicitation does carry over to other countries:

  o  In Hong Kong, offices frequently post "no soliciting" signs.

  o  In the United Kingdom, where door-to-door peddlers are fairly
     common, "no soliciting" signs are also common.

  o  In Australia, where door-to-door does not appear to be a pressing
     social problem, there was legislation passed which outlawed the
     practice of placing ads under wipers of parked cars.

  o  In France, which has a long tradition of door-to-door
     solicitation, apartment buildings often use trespass laws to
     enforce "no solicitation" policies.

  o  In the Netherlands, where door-to-door solicitation is not a
     pressing issue, there is a practice of depositing free
     publications in mailboxes.  The postal equivalent of "no spam"
     signs are quite prevalent and serve notice that the publications
     are not desired.

1.3.  No Soliciting and Electronic Mail

  Many of the anti-spam proposals that have been advanced have great
  merit, however none of them give notice to an SMTP agent in the
  process of delivering mail that the receiver does not wish to receive
  solicitations.  Such a virtual sign would serve two purposes:

  o  It would allow the receiving system to "serve notice" that a
     certain class of electronic mail is not desired.

  o  If a message is properly identified as belonging to a certain
     class and that class of messages is not desired, transfer of the
     message can be eliminated.  Rather than filtering after delivery,
     elimination of the message transfer can save network bandwidth,
     disk space, and processing power.




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RFC 3865                     No Soliciting                September 2004


  This memo details a series of extensions to SMTP that have the
  following characteristics:

  o  A service extension is described that allows a receiving Mail
     Transport Agent (MTA) to signal the sending MTA that no soliciting
     is in effect.

  o  A header field for the sender of the message is defined that
     allows the sender to flag a message as conforming to a certain
     class.

  o  Trace fields for intermediate MTAs are extended to allow the
     intermediate MTA to signal that a message is in a certain class.

  Allowing the sender of a message to tag a message as being, for
  example, unsolicited commercial email with adult content, allows
  "good" spammers to conform to legal content labelling requirements by
  governmental authorities, license agreements with service providers,
  or conventions imposed by "whitelist" services.  For senders of mail
  who choose not to abide by these conventions, the intermediate trace
  fields defined here allow the destination MTAs to perform appropriate
  dispositions on the received message.

  This extension provides a simple mean for senders, MTAs, and
  receivers to assert keywords.  This extension does not deal with any
  issues of authentication or consent.

2.  The No-Soliciting SMTP Service Extension

  Per [RFC2821], a "NO-SOLICITING" SMTP service extension is defined.
  The service extension is declared during the initial "EHLO" SMTP
  exchange.  The extension has one optional parameter, consisting of
  zero or more solicitation class keywords.  Using the notation as
  described in the Augmented BNF [RFC2234], the syntax is:

     No-Soliciting-Service = "NO-SOLICITING"
          [ SP Solicitation-keywords ]

  As will be further described below, the "Solicitation-keywords"
  construct is used to indicate which classes of messages are not
  desired.  A keyword that is presented during the initial "EHLO"
  exchange applies to all messages exchanged in this session.  As will
  also be further described below, additional keywords may be specified
  on a per-recipient basis as part of the response to a "RCPT TO"
  command.






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RFC 3865                     No Soliciting                September 2004


2.1.  The EHLO Exchange

  Keywords presented during the initial exchange indicate that no
  soliciting in the named classes is in effect for all messages
  delivered to this system.  It is equivalent to the sign on the door
  of an office building announcing a company-wide policy.  For example:

     R: <wait for connection on TCP port 25>
     S: <open connection to server>
     R: 220 trusted.example.com SMTP service ready
     S: EHLO untrusted.example.com
     R: 250-trusted.example.com says hello
     R: 250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES
     R: 250-NO-SOLICITING net.example:ADV
     R: 250 SIZE 20480000

  The "net.example:ADV" parameter to the "NO-SOLICITING" extension is
  an example of a solicitation class keyword, the syntax of which is
  described in the following section.

  Historical Note:

     A similar proposal was advanced in 1999 by John Levine and Paul
     Hoffman.  This proposal used the SMTP greeting banner to specify
     that unsolicited bulk email is prohibited on a particular system
     through the use of the "NO UCE" keyword [Levine].  As the authors
     note, their proposal has the potential of overloading the
     semantics of the greeting banner, which may also be used for other
     purposes (see, e.g., [Malamud]).

2.2.  Solicitation Class Keywords

  The "NO-SOLICITING" service extension uses solicitation class
  keywords to signify classes of solicitations that are not accepted.
  Solicitation class keywords are separated by commas.

  There is no default solicitation class keyword for the service.  In
  other words, the following example is a "no-op":

     R : 250-NO-SOLICITING

  While the above example is a "no-op" it is useful for an MTA that
  wishes to pass along all messages, but would also like to pass along
  "SOLICIT=" parameters on a message-by-message basis.  The above
  example invokes the use of the extension but does not signal any
  restrictions by class of message.





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RFC 3865                     No Soliciting                September 2004


  The initial set of solicitation class keywords all begin with a
  domain name with the labels reversed, followed by a colon.  For
  example, the domain name "example.com" could be used to form the
  beginning of a solicitation class keyword of "com.example:".  The
  solicitation class keyword is then followed by an arbitrary set of
  characters drawn from the following construct:

     Solicitation-keywords = word
          0*("," word)
          ; length of this string is limited
          ; to <= 1000 characters
     word = ALPHA 0*(wordchar)
     wordchar = ("." / "-" / "_" / ":" / ALPHA / DIGIT)

  A solicitation class keyword MUST be less than 1000 characters.  Note
  however that a set of keywords used in the operations defined in this
  document must also be less than 1000 characters.  Implementors are
  thus advised to keep their solicitation class keywords brief.

  Any registrant of a domain name may define a solicitation class
  keyword.  Discovery of solicitation class keywords is outside the
  scope of this document.  However, those registrants defining keywords
  are advised to place a definition of their solicitation class
  keywords on a prominent URL under their control such that search
  engines and other discovery mechanisms can find them.

  While this document defines solicitation class keywords as beginning
  with a reversed domain name followed by a colon (":"), future RFCs
  may define additional mechanisms that do not conflict with this
  naming scheme.

2.2.1.  Note on Choice of Solicitation Class Keywords

  This document does not specify which solicitation class keywords
  shall or shall not be used on a particular message.  The requirement
  to use a particular keyword is a policy decision well outside the
  scope of this document.  It is expected that relevant policy bodies
  (e.g., governments, ISPs, developers, or others) will specify
  appropriate keywords, the definition of the meaning of those
  keywords, and any other policy requirements, such as a requirement to
  use or not use this extension in particular circumstances.

  During discussions of this proposal, there were several suggestions
  to do away with the solicitation class keywords altogether and
  replace the mechanism with a simple boolean (e.g., "NO-SOLICITING
  YES" or "ADV" or "UBE").  Under a boolean mechanism, this extension
  would have to adopt a single definition of what "YES" or other label




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RFC 3865                     No Soliciting                September 2004


  means.  By using the solicitation class keywords approach, the mail
  infrastructure remains a neutral mechanism, allowing different
  definitions to co-exist.

2.3.  The MAIL FROM Command

  "SOLICIT" is defined as a parameter for the "MAIL FROM" command.  The
  "SOLICIT" parameter is followed by an equal sign and a comma
  separated list of solicitation class keywords.  The syntax for this
  parameter is:

     Mail-From-Solicit-Parameter = "SOLICIT"
                             "=" Solicitation-keywords
     ; Solicitation-keywords, when used in MAIL FROM command
     ; MUST be identical to those in the Solicitation: header.

  Note that white space is not permitted in this production.

  As an informational message, the "550" or "250" replies to the "RCPT
  TO" command may also contain the "SOLICIT" parameter.  If a message
  is being rejected due to a solicitation class keyword match,
  implementations SHOULD echo which solicitation classes are in effect.
  See Section 2.4 for more on error reporting.

  The receiving system may decide on a per-message basis the
  appropriate disposition of messages:

  R: <wait for connection on TCP port 25>
  S: <open connection to server>
  R: 220 trusted.example.com SMTP service ready
  S: EHLO untrusted.example.com
  R: 250-trusted.example.com says hello
  R: 250-NO-SOLICITING net.example:ADV
  S: MAIL FROM:<[email protected]> SOLICIT=org.example:ADV:ADLT
  S: RCPT TO:<[email protected]>
  R: 250 <[email protected]>... Recipient ok
  S: RCPT TO:<[email protected]>
  R: 550 <[email protected]> SOLICIT=org.example:ADV:ADLT

  In the previous example, the receiving MTA returned a "550" status
  code, indicating that one message was being rejected.  The
  implementation also echoes back the currently set keywords for that
  user on the "550" status message.  The solicitation class keyword
  which is echoed back is "org.example:ADV:ADLT" which illustrates how
  this per-recipient solicitation class keyword has supplemented the
  base "net.example:ADV" class declared in the "EHLO" exchange.





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RFC 3865                     No Soliciting                September 2004


  It is the responsibility of a receiving MTA to maintain a consistent
  policy.  If the receiving MTA will reject a message because of
  solicitation class keywords, the MTA SHOULD declare those keywords
  either in the initial "EHLO" exchange or on a per-recipient basis.
  Likewise, a receiving MTA SHOULD NOT deliver a message where the
  "Solicitation:" matches a solicitation class keyword that was
  presented during the initial "EHLO" exchange or on a per-recipient
  basis.

  Developers should also note that the source of the solicitation class
  keywords used in the "MAIL FROM" command MUST be the "Solicitation:"
  header described in Section 2.5 and MUST NOT be supplemented by
  additional solicitation class keywords derived from the "Received:"
  header trace fields which are described in Section 2.6.

2.4.  Error Reporting and Enhanced Mail Status Codes

  If a session between two MTAs is using both the "NO-SOLICITING"
  extension and the Enhanced Mail Status Codes as defined in [RFC3463]
  and a message is rejected based on the presence of a "SOLICIT"
  parameter, the correct error message to return will usually be
  "5.7.1", defined as "the sender is not authorized to send to the
  destination...  (because) of per-host or per-recipient filtering."

  Other codes, including temporary status codes, may be more
  appropriate in some circumstances and developers should look to
  [RFC3463] on this subject.  An example of such a situation might be
  the use of quotas or size restrictions on messages by class.  An
  implementation MAY impose limits such as message size restrictions
  based on solicitation classes, and when such limits are exceed they
  SHOULD be reported using whatever status code is appropriate for that
  limit.

  In all cases, an implementation SHOULD include a "Mail-From-Solicit-
  Parameter" on a "550" or other reply that rejects message delivery.
  The parameter SHOULD includes the solicitation class keyword(s) that
  matched.  In addition to the solicitation class keyword(s) that
  matched, an implementation MAY include additional solicitation class
  keywords that are in effect.

2.5.  Solicitation Mail Header

  Per [RFC2822], a new "Solicitation:" header field is defined which
  contains one or more solicitation class keywords.

     Solicitation-header = "Solicitation:" 1*SP Solicitation-keywords





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  An example of this header follows:

     To: Coupon Clipper <[email protected]>
     From: Spam King <[email protected]>
     Solicitation: net.example:ADV,org.example:ADV:ADLT

  Several proposals, particularly legal ones, have suggested requiring
  the use of keywords in the "Subject:" header.  While embedding
  information in the "Subject:" header may provide visual cues to end
  users, it does not provide a straightforward set of cues for computer
  programs such as mail transfer agents.  As with embedding a "no
  solicitation" message in a greeting banner, this overloads the
  semantics of the "Subject:" header.  Of course, there is no reason
  why both mechanisms can't be used, and in any case the
  "Solicitation:" header could be automatically inserted by the
  sender's Mail User Agent (MUA) based on the contents of the subject
  line.

2.6.  Insertion of Solicitation Keywords in Trace Fields

  The "Solicitation:" mail header is only available to the sending
  client.  RFCs 2821 and 2822 are quite specific that intermediate MTAs
  shall not change message headers, with the sole exception of the
  "Received:" trace field.  Since many current systems use an
  intermediate relay to detect unsolicited mail, an addition to the
  "Received:" header is described.

  [RFC2821] documents the following productions for the "Received:"
  header in a mail message:

     ; From RFC 2821
     With = "WITH" FWS Protocol CFWS
     Protocol = "ESMTP" / "SMTP" / Attdl-Protocol

  Additionally, [RFC2822] defines a comment field as follows:

     ; From RFC 2822
     comment         =       "(" *([FWS] ccontent) [FWS] ")"
     ccontent        =       ctext / quoted-pair / comment

  The "Mail-From-Solicit-Parameter" defined in Section 2.3 above is a
  restricted form of ctext, yielding the following production:

     With-Solicit = "WITH" FWS Protocol
                "(" [FWS] comment [FWS] ")"
     comment         =       "(" *([FWS] ccontent) [FWS] ")"
     ccontent = ctext / quoted-pair /
                comment / Mail-From-Solicit-Parameter



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RFC 3865                     No Soliciting                September 2004


                ; The Mail-From-Solicit-Parameter
                ; is a restricted form of ctext

  An example of a Received: header from a conforming MTA is as follows:

     Received: by foo-mta.example.com with
        ESMTP (SOLICIT=net.example:ADV,org.example:ADV:ADLT) ;
        Sat, 9 Aug 2003 16:54:42 -0700 (PDT)

  It should be noted that keywords presented in trace fields may not
  agree with those found in the "Solicitation:" header and trace fields
  may exist even if the header is not present.  When determining which
  keywords are applicable to a particular exchange of messages,
  implementors SHOULD examine any keywords found in the "Solicitation:"
  header.  Implementors MAY examine other keywords found in the trace
  fields.

2.7.  Relay of Messages

  The "NO-SOLICITING" service extension, if present, applies to all
  messages handled by the receiving Message Transfer Agent (MTA),
  including those messages intended to be relayed to another system.

  Solicitation class keywords supplied by a client on a "SOLICIT"
  parameter on a "MAIL FROM" command SHOULD be obtained from the
  "Solicitation:" field in the message header.  An SMTP client SHOULD,
  however, verify that the list of solicitation class keywords obtained
  from the "Solicitation:" field uses valid syntax before conveying its
  contents.  An SMTP server SHOULD set this parameter after detecting
  the presence of the "Solicitation:" header field when receiving a
  message from a non-conforming MTA.

2.8.  No Default Solicitation Class

  Implementations of "NO-SOLICITING" service extension SHOULD NOT
  enable specific solicitation class keywords as a default in their
  software.  There are some indications that some policy makers may
  view a default filtering in software as a prior restraint on
  commercial speech.  In other words, because the person installing and
  using the software did not make an explicit choice to enable a
  certain type of filtering, some might argue that such filtering was
  not desired.

  Likewise, it is recommended that a system administrator installing
  software SHOULD NOT enable additional per-recipient filtering by
  default for a user.  Again, individual users should specifically
  request any additional solicitation class keywords.




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RFC 3865                     No Soliciting                September 2004


  The mechanism for an individual user to communicate their desire to
  enable certain types of filtering is outside the scope of this
  document.

3.  Security Considerations

  This extension does not provide authentication of senders or other
  measures intended to promote security measures during the message
  exchange process.

  In particular, this document does not address the circumstances under
  which a sender of electronic mail should or should not use this
  extension and does not address the issues of whether consent to send
  mail has been granted.

  This might lead to a scenario in which a sender of electronic mail
  begins to use this extension well before the majority of end users
  have begun to use it.  In this scenario, the sender might wish to use
  the absence of the extension on the receiving MTA as an implication
  of consent to receive mail.  Non-use of the "NO-SOLICITING" extension
  by a receiving MTA SHALL NOT indicate consent.

4.  IANA Considerations

  There are three IANA considerations presented in this document:

  1. Addition of the "NO-SOLICITING" service extension to the Mail
     Parameters registry.

  2. Documentation of the use of comments in trace fields.

  3. Creation of a "Solicitation:" mail header.

4.1.  The Mail Parameters Registry

  The IANA Mail Parameters registry documents SMTP service extensions.
  The "NO-SOLICITATION" service extension has been added to this
  registry as follows.

  Keywords        Description                     Reference
  ------------    ------------------------------  ---------
  NO-SOLICITING   Notification of no soliciting.  RFC3865

  The parameters subregistry would need to be modified as follows:

  Service Ext    EHLO Keyword   Parameters            Reference
  -----------    ------------   -----------           ---------
  No Soliciting  NO-SOLICITING  Solicitation-keywords RFC3865



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RFC 3865                     No Soliciting                September 2004


  The maximum length of Solicitation-keywords is 1000 characters.  The
  "SOLICIT=" parameter is defined for use on the MAIL FROM command.
  The potential length of the MAIL FROM command is thus increased by
  1007 characters.

4.2.  Trace Fields

  The Mail Parameters registry would need to be modified to note the
  use of the comment facility in trace fields to indicate Solicitation
  Class Keywords.

4.3.  The Solicitation Mail Header

  Per [RFC3864], the "Solicitation:" header field is added to the IANA
  Permanent Message Header Field Registry.  The following is the
  registration template:

  o  Header field name: Solicitation
  o  Applicable protocol: mail
  o  Status: standard
  o  Author/Change controller: IETF
  o  Specification document(s): RFC3865
  o  Related information:

5.  Author's Acknowledgements

  The author would like to thank Rebecca Malamud for many discussions
  and ideas that led to this proposal and to John C. Klensin and
  Marshall T. Rose for their extensive input on how it could be
  properly implemented in SMTP.  Eric Allman, Harald Alvestrand, Steven
  M. Bellovin, Doug Barton, Kent Crispin, Dave Crocker, Ned Freed,
  Curtis Generous, Arnt Gulbrandsen,  John Levine, Keith Moore, Hector
  Santos, Ted Hardie, Paul Vixie, and Pindar Wong kindly provided
  reviews of the document and/or suggestions for improvement.
  Information about soliciting outside the U.S. was received from Rob
  Blokzijl, Jon Crowcroft, Christian Huitema, Geoff Huston, and Pindar
  Wong. John Levine pointed out the contrast between this proposal and
  "do not spam" lists.  As always, all errors and omissions are the
  responsibility of the author.












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RFC 3865                     No Soliciting                September 2004


6.  References

6.1.  Normative References

  [RFC2119]    Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
               Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.

  [RFC2234]    Crocker, D., Ed. and P. Overell, "Augmented BNF for
               Syntax Specifications: ABNF", RFC 2234, November 1997.

  [RFC2821]    Klensin, J., Ed., "Simple Mail Transfer Protocol", RFC
               2821, April 2001.

  [RFC2822]    Resnick, P., Ed., "Internet Message Format", RFC 2822,
               April 2001.

  [RFC3463]    Vaudreuil, G., "Enhanced Mail System Status Codes", RFC
               3463, January 2003.

  [RFC3864]    Klyne, G., Nottingham, M., and J. Mogul, "Registration
               Procedures for Message Header Fields", BCP 90, RFC 3864,
               September 2004.

6.2.  Informative References

  [Assassin]   Mason, J., "Spamassassin - Mail Filter to Identify Spam
               Using Text Analysis", Version 2.55, May 2003,
               <http://www.mirror.ac.uk/sites/spamassassin.taint.org/
               spamassassin.org/doc/spamassassin.html>

  [CNET]       CNET News.Com, "AOL touts spam-fighting prowess", April
               2003, <http://news.com.com/2100-1025-998944.html>.

  [Cantwell]   U.S. Supreme Court, "Cantwell v. State of Connecticut",
               310 U.S. 296 (1940), May 1940,
               <http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/
               getcase.pl?court=US&vol=310&invol=296>

  [FTC]        Federal Trade Commission, "Federal, State, Local Law
               Enforcers Target Deceptive Spam and Internet Scams",
               November 2002,
               <http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2002/11/nenetforcema.htm>.

  [FTC.TSR]    Federal Trade Commission, "Telemarketing Sales Rule",
               Federal Register Vol. 68, No. 19, January 2003,
               <http://www.ftc.gov/os/2002/12/tsrfinalrule.pdf>.





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RFC 3865                     No Soliciting                September 2004


  [Ferris]     Associated Press, "Study: Spam costs businesses $13
               billion", January 2003,
               <http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/biztech/01/03/
               spam.costs.ap/index.html>

  [Habeas]     Habeas, Inc., "Habeas Compliance Message", 2004,
               <http://www.habeas.com/servicesComplianceStds.html>

  [crocker-spam-techconsider]
               Crocker, D., "Technical Considerations for Spam Control
               Mechanisms", Work in Progress, February 2004.

  [crouzet-amtp]
               Crouzet, B., "Authenticated Mail Transfer Protocol",
               Work in Progress, May 2004.

  [daboo-sieve-spamtest]
               Daboo, C., "SIEVE Spamtest and Virustest Extensions",
               Work in Progress, October 2003.

  [danisch-dns-rr-smtp]
               Danisch, H., "The RMX DNS RR and method for lightweight
               SMTP sender authorization", Work in Progress, August
               2004.

  [Levine]     Levine, J. and P. Hoffman, "Anti-UBE and Anti-UCE
               Keywords in SMTP Banners", Revision 1.1, March 1999,
               <http://www.cauce.org/proposal/smtp-banner-rfc.shtml>.

  [Malamud]    Malamud, C., "An Internet Prayer Wheel", Mappa.Mundi
               Magazine, August 1999,
               <http://mappa.mundi.net/cartography/Wheel/>.

  [Martin]     U.S. Supreme Court, "Martin v. City of Struthers, Ohio",
               319 U.S. 141 (1943), May 1943,
               <http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/
               getcase.pl?court=US&vol=319&invol=141>

  [Newbury]    The Town of West Newbury, Massachusetts, "Soliciting/
               Canvassing By-Law", Chapter 18 Section 10, March 2002,
               <http://www.town.west-newbury.ma.us/Public_Documents/
               WestNewburyMA_Bylaws/000A1547-70E903AC>

  [Perry]      U.S. Supreme Court, "Perry Education Association v.
               Perry Local Educators' Association", 460 U.S. 37 (1983),
               February 1983, <http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/
               getcase.pl?court=US&vol=460&invol=37>




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RFC 3865                     No Soliciting                September 2004


  [RFC2505]    Lindberg, G., "Anti-Spam Recommendations for SMTP MTAs",
               BCP 30, RFC 2505, February 1999.

  [ROKSO]      Spamhaus.Org, "Register of Known Spam Operations",
               November 2003,
               <http://www.spamhaus.org/rokso/index.lasso>.

  [Schumer]    Charles, C., "Schumer, Christian Coalition Team Up to
               Crack Down on Email Spam Pornography", June 2003,
               <http://
               www.senate.gov/~schumer/SchumerWebsite/pressroom/
               press_releases/PR01782.html>.

  [Watchtower] U.S. Supreme Court, "Watchtower Bible & Tract Society of
               New York, Inc., et al. v. Village of Stratton et al.",
               122 S.Ct. 2080 (2002), June 2002,
               <http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/
               getcase.pl?court=US&vol=000&invol=00-1737>

































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RFC 3865                     No Soliciting                September 2004


Appendix A.  Collected ABNF Descriptions (Normative)

  Solicitation-keywords = word
       0*("," word)
       ; length of this string is limited
       ; to <= 1000 characters
  word = ALPHA 0*(wordchar)
  wordchar = ("." / "-" / "_" / ":" / ALPHA / DIGIT)

  ; used in the initial EHLO exchange
  No-Soliciting-Service = "NO-SOLICITING"
       [ SP Solicitation-keywords ]

  ; used on the Solicitation: message header
  Solicitation-header = "Solicitation:" 1*SP Solicitation-keywords

  ; used on the MAIL FROM command and replies,
  ; and on Received: headers.
  Mail-From-Solicit-Parameter =
       "SOLICIT" "=" Solicitation-keywords
       ; Solicitation-keywords, when used in
       ; the MAIL FROM command MUST be identical
       ; to those in the Solicitation: header.

  ; Used on Received: headers
  With-Solicit = "WITH" FWS Protocol
             "(" [FWS] comment [FWS] ")"
  ; From RFC 2822
  comment = "(" *([FWS] ccontent) [FWS] ")"
  ccontent = ctext / quoted-pair /
             comment / Mail-From-Solicit-Parameter
             ; The Mail-From-Solicit-Parameter
             ; is a restricted form of ctext
  ; From RFC 2821
  With = "WITH" FWS Protocol CFWS
  Protocol = "ESMTP" / "SMTP" / Attdl-Protocol
  Attdl-Protocol = Atom

Author's Address

  Carl Malamud
  Memory Palace Press
  PO Box 300
  Sixes, OR  97476
  US

  EMail: [email protected]




Malamud                     Standards Track                    [Page 18]

RFC 3865                     No Soliciting                September 2004


Full Copyright Statement

  Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2004).  This document is subject
  to the rights, licenses and restrictions contained in BCP 78, and
  except as set forth therein, the authors retain all their rights.

  This document and the information contained herein are provided on an
  "AS IS" basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE REPRESENTS
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Acknowledgement

  Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
  Internet Society.









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