RFC 3459 (rfc3459) - Page 1 of 24
Critical Content Multi-purpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Parameter
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
Network Working Group E. Burger
Request for Comments: 3459 SnowShore Networks
Updates: 3204 January 2003
Category: Standards Track
Critical Content Multi-purpose Internet Mail
Extensions (MIME) Parameter
Status of this Memo
This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2003). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
This document describes the use of a mechanism for identifying body
parts that a sender deems critical in a multi-part Internet mail
message. The mechanism described is a parameter to Content-
Disposition, as described by RFC 3204.
By knowing what parts of a message the sender deems critical, a
content gateway can intelligently handle multi-part messages when
providing gateway services to systems of lesser capability. Critical
content can help a content gateway to decide what parts to forward.
It can indicate how hard a gateway should try to deliver a body part.
It can help the gateway to pick body parts that are safe to silently
delete when a system of lesser capability receives a message. In
addition, critical content can help the gateway chose the
notification strategy for the receiving system. Likewise, if the
sender expects the destination to do some processing on a body part,
critical content allows the sender to mark body parts that the
receiver must process.
Burger Standards Track
