The move by the group responsible for the popular open-source Apache Web server comes as other open-source developers also voiced reservations about Microsoft's attempts to apply stringent license requirements to its contribution to the spam-fighting technology.
"We believe that the current license is generally incompatible with open source, contrary to the practice of open Internet standards, and specifically incompatible with Apache License 2.0," the group wrote in its letter to the technical committee working on the technology.
The criticism of the licensing requirements for the standard was published in response to a request for comment on the Sender ID system. The request came from the chairpersons of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) working group responsible for Sender ID, which is meant to block spam by confirming the source of an e-mail. Dozens of others also contributed their comments, the overwhelming majority of which were critical of the new standard and Microsoft's attempt to place license requirements on the specification.
"Microsoft's license for patent claims made on Sender ID prevent (the specification) from being a standard in the open-source community," wrote one member of the working group in a posting titled "Motion to abandon Sender ID."
A Microsoft representative was not immediately available to comment on the issue.
Many of the license provisions worry open-source developers. According to an analysis done by Larry Rosen, general counsel of the Open Source Initiative, Microsoft's License would require mail-service providers incorporating Sender ID into their products to tell Microsoft about customers using it. The software giant also has not informed the IETF of potential patents pending on the technologies, and the license is not compatible with open-source development groups and requires users to be subject to U.S. export control laws, the analysis stated.
Sender ID is a combination of two proposed standards that would create a system to positively identify whether the source address of an e-mail message is the actual source of the message. One specification, Caller ID, was proposed by Microsoft; the other, Sender Policy Framework (SPF), was proposed by Meng Wong, the founder of e-mail service provider Pobox.com. The use of Microsoft's technology in the standard means that the company can specify a license that potential users have to agree to before using the code.
Early Wednesday, Sendmail, developer of the Sendmail open-source mail server, released a version of a module that could be added to any Sendmail server to add Sender ID functionality to the software. While the module, called milter, is open source, users still have to agree to Microsoft's licensing restrictions.
Microsoft has actively lobbied other companies to accept the Sender ID framework and its license that would accompany the code. In August, the company collected more than 80 members of the E-mail Service Provider Coalition to tout the benefits of the anti-spam technology.
However, open-source groups may be a harder nut to crack.
"As developers of open-source e-mail technologies, we are concerned that no company should be permitted IP (intellectual property) rights over core Internet infrastructure," the Apache Foundation wrote, adding "we will not be implementing support for Sender ID until such time as the issues with the license are fixed and acceptable."
The Original Letter
http://www.apache.org/foundation/docs/sender-id-position.html
Sounds like Microsoft want to control RFC's now