September 14th, 2004
Patent concerns foil Microsoft anti-spam spec at IETF
Just weeks after the open source community voiced concerns that Microsoft’s SenderID e-mail authentication specification (for combatting spam) is saddled with unacceptable licensing terms, a technical working group within the Internet Engineering Task Force (the standards-setting body for the Internet) has rejected SenderID for consideration as an IETF standard due to Microsoft’s insistence that its patent application for the technology be kept a secret. At the extremes, the impasse could produce one of two opposite scenerios. Either Microsoft capitulates and donates its relevant intellectual property — a move that some might consider oxymoronic because it virtually equates to Microsoft open-sourcing one of its technologies. Or, the technology remains proprietary and becomes a defacto standard due to Microsoft’s commanding e-mail ecoysystem market presence (Outlook, Outlook Express, Exchange Server, and MSN/Hotmail) thereby giving Microsoft an unprecedented leverage point over the Internet’s e-mail infrastructure. Meanwhile, have you deleted enough spam today?
