Message-Id: <v02140405ad09fe2b1696@[165.227.40.21]>
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Date: Fri, 29 Dec 1995 12:33:36 -0800
To: drums@cs.utk.edu
From: paulh@imc.org (Paul Hoffman)
Subject: Re: The use of 8-bit

>It seems to me that it is impossible to stop this practice.
>If it cannot be stopped, perhaps it should be accepted.

I thought the problem was that these messages may traverse over 7-bit
networks on their way to the recepient. A typical 7-bit network would strip
the bit, possibly changing the meaning of the received message without any
possible indication to the recipient that the message had been
programatically altered.

Worse yet, some IP packets of a single mail message could traverse a pure
8-bit network, while others get routed through a 7-bit node along the way.
This would make detection by the user that much more difficult. Unlikely,
but not impossible, and truely ugly.

--Paul Hoffman
--Internet Mail Consortium