Email Feedback Report Type Value : not-spam
draft-li-marf-not-spam-feedback-00

Abstract

This document defines a new Abuse Reporting Format (ARF) feedback report type value: "not-spam". It can be used to indicate that a message that was tagged or categorized as spam (such as by an ISP) in fact is not spam.

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This Internet-Draft will expire on November 14, 2011.

Copyright Notice

Copyright (c) 2011 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved.

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Table of Contents

• 1. Introduction
• 1.1. Discussion
• 1.2. Terminology
• 2. Feedback Report Type: Not-Spam
• 3. Example
• 4. Security Considerations
• 5. IANA Considerations
• 6. Acknowledgements
• 7. References
• 7.1. Normative References
• 7.2. Informative References
• Authors' Addresses

1. Introduction

In [RFC5965], an Abuse Reporting Format (ARF) is defined for reporting email abuse. Currently two feedback report types are defined that are related to the spam problem, and that can be used to report abusive or fraudulent email messages:

• abuse: indicates unsolicited email or some other kind of email abuse.
• fraud: indicates some kind of fraud or phishing activity.

This specification defines a new feedback report type: "not-spam". It can be used to report a message that was mistakenly marked as spam.

1.1. Discussion

The requirement to indicate a not-spam report type is from the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) Spam Report Requirement Document [OMA-SpamRep-RD].

In some cases, the mail client receives an email message that was tagged as spam, either by the mail system or accidentally by the user, but the end user finds out that actually it is not spam. The mail client accepts the end user's report instruction and retrieves information related to the message, and reports this email as not-spam to the mail operator. When the mail operator receives the report, it can take appropriate measures with the mail in the message store. For example, it can remove the spam tag or change the category, possibly preventing future similar mail from being marked as spam. The report can be used to adjust the training of an automated classifier. After processing the report, the mail operator can send a notification to the mail client about the processing result.

1.2. 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 [RFC2119]. These terms take their normative values only when presented in UPPER CASE.

2. Feedback Report Type: Not-Spam

This document only defines a new feedback report type, "not-spam", extending feedback reports as specified in [RFC5965].

In the first MIME part of the feedback report message, the end user or the mail client MAY add information to indicate why the message is not spam -- for example, because the originator or its domain is well known.

3. Example

In the example, Joe, a pharmaceuticals sales representative, has received a message about discount pharmaceuticals. Because that is a frequent subject of spam email, the message has been marked as spam -- incorrectly, in this case. Joe has reported it as "not-spam", and this is an example of the report.

      
   From: <abusedesk@example.com>
   Date: Thu, 8 Mar 2005 17:40:36 EDT
   Subject: FW: Discount on pharmaceuticals
   To: <abuse@example.net>
   MIME-Version: 1.0
   Content-Type: multipart/report; report-type=feedback-report;
        boundary="part1_13d.2e68ed54_boundary"

   --part1_13d.2e68ed54_boundary
   Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
   Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

   This is an email abuse report for an email message received
   from IP 192.0.2.1 on Thu, 8 Mar 2005 14:00:00 EDT.
   For more information about this format please see
   http://www.mipassoc.org/arf/.

   --part1_13d.2e68ed54_boundary
   Content-Type: message/feedback-report

   Feedback-Type: not-spam
   User-Agent: SomeGenerator/1.0
   Version: 1

   --part1_13d.2e68ed54_boundary
   Content-Type: message/rfc822
   Content-Disposition: inline

   Received: from mailserver.example.net
        (mailserver.example.net [192.0.2.1])
        by example.com with ESMTP id M63d4137594e46;
        Thu, 08 Mar 2005 14:00:00 -0400
   From: <someone@example.net>
   To: <Undisclosed Recipients>
   Subject: Discount on pharmaceuticals
   MIME-Version: 1.0
   Content-type: text/plain
   Message-ID: 8787KJKJ3K4J3K4J3K4J3.mail@example.net
   Date: Thu, 02 Sep 2004 12:31:03 -0500

   Hi, Joe.  I got a lead on a source for discounts on
   pharmaceuticals, and I thought you might be interested.
   [...etc...]
   --part1_13d.2e68ed54_boundary--
   
           Example 1: Not-spam report  
         
          

4. Security Considerations

All of the Security Considerations from [RFC5965] are inherited here.

Not-spam reports could possibly be used in an attack on a filtering system, reporting true spam as "not-spam". Even in absence of malice, some not-spam reports will only apply to the user sending the report. Operators need to be careful in trusting such reports, beyond their applicability to the specific user in question.

5. IANA Considerations

Registration is requested for the newly defined feedback type name: "not-spam", according to the instructions in section 7.3 of the base specification [RFC5965].

Please add the following to the "Feedback Report Type Values" registry:

Feedback Type Name:

not-spam

Description:

Indicates that a message is not spam. This may be used to correct a message that was incorrectly tagged or categorized as spam.

Published in:

this document

Status:

current

6. Acknowledgements

The authors would like thank Murray S. Kucherawy and Bert Greevenbosch for their discussion and review.

7. References

7.1. Normative References

7.2. Informative References

Authors' Addresses