Found this in the box the other day - thought it might be of interest, esp regarding secure email standards. Warmest regards, AJ <---- Begin Forwarded Message ----> Return-Path: dcrocker@brandenburg.com Date: Tue, 23 Jan 1996 10:20:50 -0800 To: (potential attendees) From: Dave Crocker <dcrocker@brandenburg.com> Subject: IMC Resolving Email Security Complexity Workshop This is a query of your interest in participating in a working meeting. As an initial activity of the newly-formed Internet Mail Consortium, we are hoping to use the coincident timing of EMail World in San Jose and the ISOC Security Conference in San Diego to call for an all-day meeting on the matter of email security. (If you aren't familiar with the IMC, please check out info@imc.org or <http://www.imc.org/>.) This note is intended as a pre-announcement and a solicitation for feedback concerning your interest. We'd like to get a sense of the number and range of folks who might/can/will attend. We do not yet have logistics or finances fully worked out, but the timing pressure is tight enough to warrant this letter before the official announcement. Comments about the activity and, especially, an indication of availability, willingness, and (best of all) intention to attend would be highly welcome. Please pass this note on to others who you think are (or should be) interested in email security. Specifics As its first activity, the Internet Mail Consortium proposes to organize a one-day workshop to consider the problem of multiple MIME-based security mechanisms. This is a complicated topic with a long and painful history, but the previous pain is insignificant when compared to what is emerging for vendors and, worse still, for users. Our proposal is to conduct an open meeting with attendance by principals and others involved in this area of work. We will invite the key contributors and solicit additional attendance by vendors, providers, users, and technologists who are concerned with email security. The attendance goal is to have a critical mass of those with the technical expertise and industry involvement to review and debate the requirements, capabilities, and possibilities. The work goal is to seek common ground for a common solution. While we are not overly hopeful that the end of the day will see peace and resolve among the masses, we do hope for a large amount of improved understanding and some amount of convergence. With luck, there will even be improvement in the clarity of constituency for the different technical choices -- that is, a strengthening of the political base for some of the alternatives. We would like to hold the event: Wednesday, 21 February 8:30 am - 5:30 pm (all day) (Near) EMail World event, San Jose Convention Center, CA. This is the last day of EMail World and the day before a two-day ISOC Security conference in San Diego. We propose to structure the meeting with a tight agenda, having a very focused sequence of work on the problem; this is definitely not for general education. Some amount of review is appropriate, but not much. Attendees will be expected to be knowledgeable in the basic technologies, so that only general systems design and specific algorithm choices need to be cited. To help everyone prepare, the Internet Mail Consortium will organize a set of mail-response and Web pages with references and summaries of the current technologies, and will establish a mailing list for exchanges leading up to the meeting. Proposed Agenda Morning Brief descriptions of the candidate solutions Review of the functional and technical requirements Review the extent to which each alternative satisfies the requirements Seek consensus about the requirements Afternoon Haggle about the strengths and weaknesses of the technical alternatives Explore the choices and/or negotiate a preferred solution Those who have worked on this topic in the IETF are quite tired of the whole situation, but the unfortunate reality is that the current product and user choices are quite problematic. We need to continue seeking a viable service. We expect to charge $50 per person, to cover basic costs. I should have more details about this next week. Please do let us know your comments. Thanks! d/ -------------------- Dave Crocker +1 408 246 8253 Brandenburg Consulting fax: +1 408 249 6205 675 Spruce Dr. dcrocker@brandenburg.com Sunnyvale, CA 94086 USA http://www.brandenburg.com <---- End Forwarded Message ----> __________________________________________________________________ Out the buffer, | PGP encrypted e-mail preferred. Through the com port, | Finger for Public Key. Over the POTS line, | Also available on a key server near you. Into the NT Box, | Up the fractional T1, | Key ID: 0X457AA6BD Onto the backbone, | Keyprint: 99 C7 17 3B 32 08 3F 17 Nothin' but 'Net. | F4 A9 42 A9 2F BC 39 B1 ------------------------------------------------------------------