Subject: [Asrg] SICS, definitions, and accountability for `spam`

From: Amir Herzberg <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2004 09:58:46 +0200

John reminded me (us?) that this list is not for discussing the 
definition of spam. Indeed, I agree, that we may better not begin 
argument on the precise definition of spam, and instead focus on 
mechanisms which may help solve the problem. Each of these mechanisms 
has its own goal, or set of messages this solution considers as `spam`. 
Let me therefore re-phrase our goal with SICS.

SICS allows any two mail agents (MTA or MUA) to agree on a set of labels 
for e-mail (or other) messages, where the labels identify messages 
belonging to a potentially-objectionable category (advertising, XXX, 
etc.). Such labels would allow the MUAs and MTAs of recipients to filter 
messages before they reach the recipient, based on the policy of the 
recipient (and of the MTA).

The main idea in SICS is automated, efficient, decentralized 
accountabily. A MTA that signs SICS labels is responsible for them to 
the end user or to the recipient's (SICS-enabled) MTA. This builds a 
very efficient distributed penlties mechanism for senders of 
falsely-labeled e-mail (`spam` for SICS purposes), which does not 
require customers to identify and sue directly the originator of the 
spam, and prevents blocking or penalizing messages (e.g. containing 
adult-rated content) if the recipient is not interested in blocking 
them; this protects free speech and ensures e-mail openness and zero cost.

SICS stands for Secure Internet Content Selection, since there is 
already a spec for defining such labels called PICS (Platform for 
Internet Content Selection); SICS mainly adds accountability.

We are now working on (open-source, patent-free) implementation. If 
there is interest in this working group, we will be happy to contribute 
these ideas and help the group (or sub-groups) investigate their 
potential value. In particular, we plan to make an I-D version, or help 
others interested and able to create such an I-D. We will also be happy 
to cooperate with other groups interested in implementing similar ideas.

Best, Amir Herzberg
Associate Professor
Dept. of Computer Science, Bar Ilan University
http://AmirHerzberg.com

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