With the growing prevalence of XMPP communications, it is no longer safe to assume that XMPP will be free of spammers and nuisance users due to its obscurity. To that effect, this protocols aim is to create a user rating that can be used to hinder unnecessary communication within servers. While there have been several attempts to curb spam within servers, they have targeted the specific messages that may be labeled as spam, or relied on blocking policies. This approach singles out the JID of the user to (hopefully) remove their access to the server.
XMPP Core, not known at this point.
A user rating is an integer value assigned to a user’s bare JID to aid servers in determining JIDs that are predisposed to spam or offensive messages. The User Rating allows servers to determine appropriate actions from limiting stanza sending, to kicking or banning of the JID from the server. The rating, once implemented can be used in automated and user-based environments to curb abusive users. The introduction of a <rating/> element should be attached to a bare JID and should contain a float. <rating>0.0</rating> Would indicate the user is behaving normally, and is not suspected of sending spam. Where a user who has achieved a rating of the following: <rating>1.0</rating> would be kicked from the server, for example. <reportjid/> is the JID of the user to be reported for spam or abuse.
A user may obtain their own rating by sending an IQ-get with no to address and an element qualified by the ‘rating’ namespace.
<iq from=’romeo@montague.net’
id=’aa1a’
type=’get’>
<query xmlns=’rating’ />
</iq>
The server should return an IQ result stanza with <rating/> element:
<iq type=’result’ to=’romeo@montague.net’
id=’aa1a’
type=’result’>
<query xmlns=’rating’ />
<rating>0.1</rating>
</query>
</iq>
In installations that run as chat servers, moderation of spam users can be delivered to online users and administrators. Users receiving spam from a bare JID can send an IQ stanza to the server that increases the user rating.
<iq type=’set’
from=’romeo@montague.net’
to=’shakespeare.lit’
id=’report1’>
<rating xmlns=’urnm:xmpp:abuse:1’>
<reported-jid>mercutio@shakespeare.lit</reported-jid>
</rating>
</iq>
To report abuse, an IQ stanza must be sent with the set type including the repored-jid element. If montague.net happens to a local vhost server, then it will be processed by that server. However, this stanza would be sent directly to montague.net with the rating payload.
<iq type=’result’ to=’romeo@montague.net’ id=’report1’ />
Server sends a result IQ to confirm receipt of the report.
Servers should notify a user JID that they have been reported, however the identity of the reporter MUST remain anonymous, therefore the message should be sent from the server itself.
<message to=’mercutio@shakespeare.lit’ id=’warning’ type=’headline’>
<body>Your actions have been reported as spam, and your rating has been increased.</body>
</message>
Server should return a not supported stanza if rating is not supported.
<iq type=’error’ id=’report1’ to=’romeo@montague.net>
<rating xmlns=’urn:xmpp:abuse’>
<error type=’cancel’>
<feature-not-implemented xmlns=’urn:ietf:xml:ns:xmpp-stanzas’/>
</error>
</rating>
</iq>Local server may be programmed to create a <rating/> locally and track communications on its own server if this result is returned.
Server should return a not found stanza if the JID specified in <reported-jid/> is unable to be found:
<iq type=’error’ id=’report1’ to=’romeo@montague.net>
<rating xmlns=’urn:xmpp:abuse’>
<error type=’cancel’>
<item-not-found xmlns=’urn:ietf:xml:ns:xmpp-stanzas’/>
</error>
</rating>
</iq>
A message should be sent to inform user that the JID is not found:
<message to=’romeo@montague.net’ id=’warning’ type=’headline’>
<body>The reported user JID has not been found on this server.</body>
</message>
Whether the jid is of a local or foreign domain, the montague.net server should at this point begin to track the reported jid mercutio@shakespeare.lit and a new user rating.
JIDs that are critical to server functionality or admins should have a permanent <rating/> of -100 to indicate that they are protected. Should a user attempt to report a protected user, the server should send the following:
<iq type=’error’ id=’admin1’ to=’romeo@montague.net>
<rating xmlns=’urn:xmpp:abuse’>
<error type=’cancel’>
<not-allowed xmlns=’urn:ietf:xml:ns:xmpp-stanzas’/>
</error>
</rating>
</iq>
The server may report the error with a message to the original user, indicating that the selected <reported-jid/> is admin or protected.
When a user is found ‘guilty’ of being a spammer using this method the server should first deliver a message before action is taken:
<message to=’mercutio@montague.net id=’notification’ type=’headline’>
<body>You have been found to be spamming the montague.net server, please take some time and cool off.</body>
</message>
The server will then conduct appropriate action, either a kick, or an outright ban depending on the severity of the offenses, or settings within the server. Actions may be taken using existing XEP-0061 Privacy Lists or XEP-0191 Blocking Command, or an internal implementation to prevent communication from known spammer accounts.
OPTIONAL.
Although this setup implies an active user base, the <rating/> element may be incorporated into non-human based systems as well. Unexpected JIDs, or ones that connect externally may be automatically given a high rating, and the server set for a low tolerance of stanzas sent in, allowing for quick and generally automated expulsion of unwanted or abusive JIDs from an automated system. The <rating/> element does not require a human interaction, instead it can be manipulated by a host server for automated abuse control. Depending on a server operator’s level of forgiveness, ratings may be permanent or can normalize to 0 after a period of time.
This feature may lend itself to abuse from users who wish to punish or abuse another user. All rating systems should follow two abuse control rules to limit abuse potential:
This document requires no interaction with the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA).
None known at this point.
Not finished at this point.
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The Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) is defined in the XMPP Core (RFC 6120) and XMPP IM (RFC 6121) specifications contributed by the XMPP Standards Foundation to the Internet Standards Process, which is managed by the Internet Engineering Task Force in accordance with RFC 2026. Any protocol defined in this document has been developed outside the Internet Standards Process and is to be understood as an extension to XMPP rather than as an evolution, development, or modification of XMPP itself.
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Note: Older versions of this specification might be available at https://xmpp.org/extensions/attic/
First draft.
@report{wisnewski2016xepxxxx,
title = {User Rating},
author = {Wisnewski, Daniel},
type = {XEP},
number = {xxxx},
version = {0.0.1},
institution = {XMPP Standards Foundation},
url = {https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-xxxx.html},
date = {2016-05-21/2016-05-21},
}END