A Model for Presence and Instant Messaging
draft-ietf-impp-model-03

INTERNET-DRAFT Mark Day
Expires February 28, 2000 Lotus
 Jonathan Rosenberg
 Bell Labs
 Hiroyasu Sugano
 Fujitsu
 A Model for Presence and Instant Messaging
 draft-ietf-impp-model-03.txt
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1. Abstract
This document defines an abstract model for a presence and instant
messaging system. It defines the various entities involved, defines
terminology, and outlines the services provided by the system. The
goal is to provide a common vocabulary for further work on
requirements for protocols and markup for presence and instant
messaging.
2. Introduction
A presence and instant messaging system allows users to subscribe to
each other and be notified of changes in state, and for users to send
each other short instant messages. A number of requirements and
protocols have been proposed to support it [WHODP, ENVY, PRESENCE,
RVP-ADDR, RPIM, SIP-PIP, PIPR, RVP]. To facilitate development of a
suite of protocols to provide this service, we believe that it is
valuable to first develop a model for the system. The model consists
of the various entities involved, descriptions of the basic functions
they provide, and most importantly, definition of a vocabulary which
can be used to facilitate discussion.
We note that the purpose of this model is to be descriptive and
universal: we want the model to map reasonably onto all of the systems
that are informally described as presence or instant messaging
systems. The model is not intended to be prescriptive or achieve
interoperability: an element that appears in the model will not
necessarily be an element of an interoperable protocol, and may not
even be a good idea. 
In this document, each element of the model appears in upper case
(e.g., PRESENCE SERVICE). No term in lower case or mixed case is
intended to be a term of the model.
The first part of this document is intended as an overview of the
model. The overview includes diagrams, and terms are presented in an
order that is intended to help the reader understand the relationship
between elements. The second part of the document is the actual
definition of the model, with terms presented in alphabetical order
for ease of reference.
The overview is intended to be helpful but is not definitive; it may
contain inadvertent differences from the definitions in the model. For
any such difference, the definition(s) in the model are taken to be
correct, rather than the explanation(s) in the overview.
3. Overview
The model is intended to provide a means for understanding, comparing,
and describing systems that support the services typically referred to
as presence and instant messaging. It consists of a number of named
entities that appear, in some form, in existing systems. No actual
implementation is likely to have every entity of the model as a
distinct part. Instead, there will almost always be parts of the
implementation that embody two or more entities of the model. However,
different implementations may combine entities in different ways.
The model defines two services: a PRESENCE SERVICE and an INSTANT
MESSAGE SERVICE. The PRESENCE SERVICE serves to accept information,
store it, and distribute it. The information stored is
(unsurprisingly) PRESENCE INFORMATION. The INSTANT MESSAGE SERVICE
serves to accept and deliver INSTANT MESSAGES to INSTANT
INBOXES. 
3.1 PRESENCE SERVICE
The PRESENCE SERVICE has two distinct sets of "clients" (remember,
these may be combined in an implementation, but treated separately in
the model). One set of clients, called PRESENTITIES, provides
PRESENCE INFORMATION to be stored and distributed. The other set of
clients, called WATCHERS, receives PRESENCE INFORMATION from the
service. 
 +---------------------------+
 | PRESENCE SERVICE |
 | |
 +---------------------------+
 ^ |
 | |
 | v
 +------------+ +------------+
 | PRESENTITY | | WATCHER |
 +------------+ +------------+
 Fig. 1: Overview of Presence Service
There are two kinds of WATCHERS, called FETCHERS and SUBSCRIBERS. A
FETCHER simply requests the current value of some PRESENTITY's
PRESENCE INFORMATION from the PRESENCE SERVICE. In contrast, a
SUBSCRIBER requests notification from the PRESENCE SERVICE of (future)
changes in some PRESENTITY's PRESENCE INFORMATION. A special kind of
FETCHER is one that fetches information on a regular basis. This is
called a POLLER.
 +----------------WATCHER---------------+
 | |
 | +----FETCHER---+ +--SUBSCRIBER--+ |
 | | | | | |
 | | +--POLLER--+ | | | |
 | | | | | | | |
 | | +----------+ | | | |
 | +--------------+ +--------------+ |
 +--------------------------------------+
 Fig. 2: Varieties of WATCHER
The PRESENCE SERVICE also has WATCHER INFORMATION about WATCHERS and
their activities in terms of fetching or subscribing to PRESENCE
INFORMATION. The PRESENCE SERVICE may also distribute WATCHER
INFORMATION to some WATCHERS, using the same mechanisms that are
available for distributing PRESENCE INFORMATION.
Changes to PRESENCE INFORMATION are distributed to SUBSCRIBERS via
NOTIFICATIONS. Figures 3a through 3c show the flow of information as a
piece of PRESENCE INFORMATION is changed from P1 to P2.
 +---------------------------+
 | PRESENCE SERVICE |
 | P1 |
 +---------------------------+
 +------------+ +------------+
 | P1->P2 | | P1 |
 | PRESENTITY | | SUBSCRIBER |
 +------------+ +------------+
 Fig. 3a: NOTIFICATION (Step 1)
 +---------------------------+
 | PRESENCE SERVICE |
 | P1->P2 |
 +---------------------------+
 ^
 |P2
 +------------+ +------------+
 | P2 | | P1 |
 | PRESENTITY | | SUBSCRIBER |
 +------------+ +------------+
 Fig. 3b: NOTIFICATION (Step 2)
 +---------------------------+
 | PRESENCE SERVICE |
 | P2 |
 +---------------------------+
 |P2
 v
 +------------+ +------------+
 | P2 | | P1->P2 |
 | PRESENTITY | | SUBSCRIBER |
 +------------+ +------------+
 Fig. 3c: NOTIFICATION (Step 3)
3.2 INSTANT MESSAGE SERVICE
The INSTANT MESSAGE SERVICE also has two distinct sets of "clients":
SENDERS and INSTANT INBOXES. A SENDER provides INSTANT MESSAGES to the
INSTANT MESSAGE SERVICE for delivery. Each INSTANT MESSAGE is
addressed to a particular INSTANT INBOX ADDRESS, and the INSTANT
MESSAGE SERVICE attempts to deliver the message to a corresponding
INSTANT INBOX.
 +---------------------------+
 | INSTANT MESSAGE SERVICE |
 | |
 +---------------------------+
 ^ |
 | |
 | v
 +------------+ +---------------+
 | SENDER | | INSTANT INBOX |
 +------------+ +---------------+
 Fig. 4: Overview of Instant Message Service
3.3 Protocols
A PRESENCE PROTOCOL defines the interaction between PRESENCE SERVICE,
PRESENTITIES, and WATCHERS. PRESENCE INFORMATION is carried by the
PRESENCE PROTOCOL. 
An INSTANT MESSAGE PROTOCOL defines the interaction between INSTANT
MESSAGE SERVICE, SENDERS, and INSTANT INBOXES. INSTANT MESSAGES are
carried by the INSTANT MESSAGE PROTOCOL.
In terms of this model, we believe that the IMPP working
group is planning to develop detailed requirements and specifications
for the structure and formats of the PRESENCE PROTOCOL, PRESENCE
INFORMATION, INSTANT MESSAGE PROTOCOL, and INSTANT MESSAGES.
3.4 Formats
The model defines the PRESENCE INFORMATION to consist of an arbitrary
number of elements, called PRESENCE TUPLES. Each such element consists
of a STATUS marker (which might convey information such as
online/offline/busy/away/do not disturb), an optional COMMUNICATION
ADDRESS, and optional OTHER PRESENCE MARKUP. A COMMUNICATION ADDRESS
includes a COMMUNICATION MEANS and a CONTACT ADDRESS. One type of
COMMUNICATION MEANS, and the only one defined by this model, is
INSTANT MESSAGE SERVICE. One type of CONTACT ADDRESS, and the only
one defined by this model, is INSTANT INBOX ADDRESS. However, other
possibilities exist: a COMMUNICATION MEANS might indicate some form of
telephony, for example, with the corresponding CONTACT ADDRESS
containing a telephone number.
 +------------------------------------+
 | PRESENCE INFORMATION |
 +------------------------------------+
 | +-------------------------------+
 =>| PRESENCE TUPLE |
 | +-------------------------------+
 | | +-------------------------+
 | =>| STATUS |
 | | +-------------------------+
 | | +-------------------------+
 | =>| COMMUNICATION ADDRESS |
 | | +-------------------------+
 | | | +-----------------+
 | | =>| CONTACT MEANS |
 | | | +-----------------+
 | | | +-----------------+
 | | =>| CONTACT ADDRESS |
 | | +-----------------+
 | | +-------------------------+
 | =>| OTHER MARKUP |
 | +-------------------------+
 | +-------------------------------+
 =>| PRESENCE TUPLE |
 | +-------------------------------+
 | | +-------------------------+
 | =>| STATUS |
 | | +-------------------------+
 | | +-------------------------+
 | =>| COMMUNICATION ADDRESS |
 | | +-------------------------+
 | | | +-----------------+
 | | =>| CONTACT MEANS |
 | | | +-----------------+
 | | | +-----------------+
 | | =>| CONTACT ADDRESS |
 | | +-----------------+
 | | +-------------------------+
 | =>| OTHER MARKUP |
 | +-------------------------+
 | +-------------------------------+
 =>| PRESENCE TUPLE |
 | +-------------------------------+
 | ...
 Fig. 5: The structure of PRESENCE INFORMATION
STATUS is further defined by the model to have at least two states
that interact with INSTANT MESSAGE delivery -- OPEN, in which INSTANT
MESSAGES will be accepted, and CLOSED, in which INSTANT MESSAGES will
not be accepted. OPEN and CLOSED may also be applicable to other
COMMUNICATION MEANS -- OPEN mapping to some state meaning "available"
or "open for business" while CLOSED means "unavailable" or "closed to
business." The model allows STATUS to include other values, which may
be interpretable by programs or only by persons. The model also
allows STATUS to consist of single or multiple values.
3.5 Presence and its effect on Instant Messages
An INSTANT INBOX is a receptacle for INSTANT MESSAGES. Its INSTANT
INBOX ADDRESS is the information that can be included in PRESENCE
INFORMATION to define how an INSTANT MESSAGE should be delivered to
that INSTANT INBOX. As noted above, certain values of the STATUS
marker indicate whether INSTANT MESSAGES will be accepted at the
INSTANT INBOX. The model does not otherwise constrain the delivery
mechanism or format for instant messages. Reasonable people can
disagree about whether this omission is a strength or a weakness of
this model.
3.6 PRINCIPALS and their agents
This model includes other elements that are useful in characterizing
how the protocol and markup work. PRINCIPALS are the people, groups,
and/or software in the "real world" outside the system that use the
system as a means of coordination and communication. It is entirely
outside the model how the real world maps onto PRINCIPALS -- the
system of model entities knows only that two distinct PRINCIPALS are
distinct, and two identical PRINCIPALS are identical.
A PRINCIPAL interacts with the system via one of several user agents
(INBOX USER AGENT; SENDER USER AGENT; PRESENCE USER AGENT; WATCHER
USER AGENT). As usual, the different kinds of user agents are split
apart in this model even though most implementations will combine at
least some of them. A user agent is purely coupling between a
PRINCIPAL and some core entity of the system (respectively, INSTANT
INBOX; SENDER; PRESENTITY; WATCHER).
 +---------------------------+
 | PRESENCE SERVICE |
 +---------------------------+
 ^ | 
 | PRESENCE PROTOCOL |
 | v
 +------------+ +------------+
 | PRESENTITY | | WATCHER |
 +------------+ +------------+
 ^ ^ 
 | | 
 | | 
 o +--------------+ +-------------+ o
 /|\ -->| PRESENCE UA | | WATCHER UA |<-- /|\
 X +--------------+ +-------------+ X
 (PRINCIPAL) (PRINCIPAL)
 Fig. 6: A presence system
 +---------------------------+
 | INSTANT MESSAGE SERVICE |
 +---------------------------+
 ^ |
 IM| INSTANT MESSAGE |IM
 | PROTOCOL v
 +------------+ +---------------+
 | SENDER | | INSTANT INBOX |
 +------------+ +---------------+
 ^ ^ 
 | | 
 | | 
 o +-------------+ +------------------+ o
 /|\ -->| SENDER UA | | INSTANT INBOX UA |<-- /|\
 X +-------------+ +------------------+ X
 (PRINCIPAL) (PRINCIPAL)
 Fig. 7: An instant messaging system
3.7 Examples
A simple example of applying the model is to describe a generic "buddy
list" application. These applications typically expose the user's
presence to others, and make it possible to see the presence of
others. So we could describe a buddy list as the combination of a
PRESENCE USER AGENT and WATCHER USER AGENT for a single PRINCIPAL,
using a single PRESENTITY and a single SUBSCRIBER.
We could then extend our example to instant messaging and describe a
generic "instant messenger" as essentially a buddy list with
additional capabilities for sending and receiving instant messages. So
an instant messenger would be the combination of a PRESENCE USER
AGENT, WATCHER USER AGENT, INBOX USER AGENT, and SENDER USER
AGENT for a single PRINCIPAL, using a single PRESENTITY, single
SUBSCRIBER, and single INSTANT INBOX, with the PRESENTITY's PRESENCE
INFORMATION including an INSTANT INBOX ADDRESS that leads to the
INSTANT INBOX.
4. Model
ACCESS RULES: constraints on how a PRESENCE SERVICE makes PRESENCE
 INFORMATION available to WATCHERS. For each PRESENTITY's PRESENCE
 INFORMATION, the applicable ACCESS RULES are manipulated by the
 PRESENCE USER AGENT of a PRINCIPAL that controls the PRESENTITY.
 Motivation: We need some way of talking about hiding presence
 information from people. 
CLOSED: a distinguished value of the STATUS marker. In the context of
 INSTANT MESSAGES, this value means that the associated INSTANT INBOX
 ADDRESS, if any, corresponds to an INSTANT INBOX that is unable to
 accept an INSTANT MESSAGE. This value may have an analogous meaning
 for other COMMUNICATION MEANS, but any such meaning is not defined by
 this model. Contrast with OPEN.
COMMUNICATION ADDRESS: consists of COMMUNICATION MEANS and CONTACT
 ADDRESS.
COMMUNICATION MEANS: indicates a method whereby communication can take
 place. INSTANT MESSAGE SERVICE is one example of a COMMUNICATION MEANS.
CONTACT ADDRESS: a specific point of contact via some COMMUNICATION
 MEANS. When using an INSTANT MESSAGE SERVICE, the CONTACT ADDRESS is
 an INSTANT INBOX ADDRESS.
 
DELIVERY RULES: constraints on how an INSTANT MESSAGE SERVICE delivers
 received INSTANT MESSAGES to INSTANT INBOXES. For each INSTANT INBOX,
 the applicable DELIVERY RULES are manipulated by the INBOX USER AGENT
 of a PRINCIPAL that controls the INSTANT INBOX.
 Motivation: We need a way of talking about filtering instant
 messages.
FETCHER: a form of WATCHER that has asked the PRESENCE SERVICE to
 for the PRESENCE INFORMATION of one or more PRESENTITIES, but has
 not asked for a SUBSCRIPTION to be created. 
INBOX USER AGENT: means for a PRINCIPAL to manipulate zero or more
 INSTANT INBOXES controlled by that PRINCIPAL.
 Motivation: This is intended to isolate the core functionality of an
 INSTANT INBOX from how it might appear to be manipulated by a
 product. This manipulation includes fetching messages, deleting
 messages, and setting DELIVERY RULES. We deliberately take no position
 on whether the INBOX USER AGENT, INSTANT INBOX, and INSTANT MESSAGE
 SERVICE are colocated or distributed across machines.
INSTANT INBOX: receptacle for INSTANT MESSAGES intended to be read by
 the INSTANT INBOX's PRINCIPAL.
INSTANT INBOX ADDRESS: indicates whether and how the PRESENTITY's
 PRINCIPAL can receive an INSTANT MESSAGE in an INSTANT INBOX. The
 STATUS and INSTANT INBOX ADDRESS information are sufficient to
 determine whether the PRINCIPAL appears ready to accept the INSTANT
 MESSAGE.
 Motivation: The definition is pretty loose about exactly how
 any of this works, even leaving open the possibility of reusing parts
 of the email infrastructure for instant messaging.
INSTANT MESSAGE: an identifiable unit of data, of small size, to be
 sent to an INSTANT INBOX.
 Motivation: We do not define "small" but we seek in this
 definition to avoid the possibility of transporting an
 arbitrary-length stream labelled as an "instant message."
INSTANT MESSAGE PROTOCOL: The messages that can be exchanged between
 a SENDER USER AGENT and an INSTANT MESSAGE SERVICE, or
 between an INSTANT MESSAGE SERVICE and an INSTANT INBOX.
INSTANT MESSAGE SERVICE: accepts and delivers INSTANT MESSAGES.
 -- May require authentication of SENDER USER AGENTS and/or
 INSTANT INBOXES.
 -- May have different authentication requirements for different
 INSTANT INBOXES, and may also have different authentication
 requirements for different INSTANT INBOXES controlled by a
 single PRINCIPAL.
 -- May have an internal structure involving multiple SERVERS
 and/or PROXIES. There may be complex patterns of redirection
 and/or proxying while retaining logical connectivity to a single
 INSTANT MESSAGE SERVICE. Note that an INSTANT MESSAGE SERVICE does
 not require having a distinct SERVER -- the service may be
 implemented as direct communication between SENDER and INSTANT
 INBOX.
 -- May have an internal structure involving other INSTANT MESSAGE
 SERVICES, which may be independently accessible in their own right as
 well as being reachable through the initial INSTANT MESSAGE SERVICE.
SENDER USER AGENT: means for a PRINCIPAL to manipulate zero or more
 SENDERS.
NOTIFICATION: a message sent from the PRESENCE SERVICE to a SUBSCRIBER
 when there is a change in the PRESENCE INFORMATION of some PRESENTITY
 of interest, as recorded in one or more SUBSCRIPTIONS. 
 Motivation: We deliberately take no position on what part of the
 changed information is included in a NOTIFICATION.
OPEN: a distinguished value of the STATUS marker. In the context of
 INSTANT MESSAGES, this value means that the associated INSTANT
 INBOX ADDRESS, if any, corresponds to an INSTANT INBOX that is
 ready to accept an INSTANT MESSAGE. This value may have an
 analogous meaning for other COMMUNICATION MEANS, but any such
 meaning is not defined by this model. Contrast with CLOSED.
OTHER PRESENCE MARKUP: any additional information included in the
 PRESENCE INFORMATION of a PRESENTITY. The model does not define this
 further.
POLLER: a FETCHER that requests PRESENCE INFORMATION on a regular basis.
PRESENCE INFORMATION: consists of one or more PRESENCE TUPLES.
PRESENCE PROTOCOL: The messages that can be exchanged between a
 PRESENTITY and a PRESENCE SERVICE, or a WATCHER and a PRESENCE
 SERVICE.
PRESENCE SERVICE: accepts, stores, and distributes PRESENCE
 INFORMATION.
 -- May require authentication of PRESENTITIES, and/or WATCHERS, and/or
 INSTANT INBOXES.
 -- May have different authentication requirements for different
 PRESENTITIES.
 -- May have different authentication requirements for different
 WATCHERS, and may also have different authentication requirements
 for different PRESENTITIES being watched by a single WATCHER.
 -- May have an internal structure involving multiple SERVERS
 and/or PROXIES. There may be complex patterns of redirection
 and/or proxying while retaining logical connectivity to a single
 PRESENCE SERVICE. Note that a PRESENCE SERVICE does not require
 having a distinct SERVER -- the service may be implemented as
 direct communication among PRESENTITY and WATCHERS.
 -- May have an internal structure involving other PRESENCE SERVICES,
 which may be independently accessible in their own right as well
 as being reachable through the initial PRESENCE SERVICE.
PRESENCE TUPLE: consists of a STATUS, an optional COMMUNICATION
 ADDRESS, and optional OTHER PRESENCE MARKUP.
PRESENCE USER AGENT: means for a PRINCIPAL to manipulate zero or more
 PRESENTITIES.
 Motivation: This is essentially a "model/view" distinction: the
 PRESENTITY is the model of the presence being exposed, and is
 independent of its manifestation in any user interface. In
 addition, we deliberately take no position on how the PRESENCE
 USER AGENT, PRESENTITY, and PRESENCE SERVICE are colocated or
 distributed across machines.
PRESENTITY (presence entity): provides PRESENCE INFORMATION to a
 PRESENCE SERVICE.
 Motivation: We don't like to coin new words, but "presentity"
 seemed worthwhile so as to have an unambiguous term for the entity
 of interest to a presence service. Note that the presentity is not
 (usually) located in the presence service: the presence service
 only has a recent version of the presentity's presence
 information. The presentity initiates changes in the presence
 information to be distributed by the presence service.
PRINCIPAL: human, program, or collection of humans and/or programs
 that chooses to appear to the PRESENCE SERVICE as a single actor,
 distinct from all other PRINCIPALS.
 Motivation: We need a clear notion of the actors outside the
 system. "Principal" seems as good a term as any.
PROXY: a SERVER that communicates PRESENCE INFORMATION, INSTANT
 MESSAGES, SUBSCRIPTIONS and/or NOTIFICATIONS to another SERVER. Sometimes
 a PROXY acts on behalf of a PRESENTITY, WATCHER, or INSTANT INBOX.
SENDER: source of INSTANT MESSAGES to be delivered by the INSTANT
 MESSAGE SERVICE.
SERVER: an indivisible unit of a PRESENCE SERVICE or INSTANT MESSAGE SERVICE.
SPAM: unwanted INSTANT MESSAGES.
SPOOFING: a PRINCIPAL improperly imitating another PRINCIPAL.
STALKING: using PRESENCE INFORMATION to infer the whereabouts of a
 PRINCIPAL, especially for malicious or illegal purposes.
STATUS: a distinguished part of the PRESENCE INFORMATION of a
 PRESENTITY. STATUS has at least the mutually-exclusive values OPEN
 and CLOSED, which have meaning for the acceptance of INSTANT MESSAGES,
 and may have meaning for other COMMUNICATION MEANS. There may be other
 values of STATUS that do not imply anything about INSTANT MESSAGE
 acceptance. These other values of STATUS may be combined with OPEN and
 CLOSED or they may be mutually-exclusive with those values. 
 
 Some implementations may combine STATUS with other entities. For
 example, an implementation might make an INSTANT INBOX ADDRESS
 visible only when the INSTANT INBOX can accept an INSTANT
 MESSAGE. Then, the existence of an INSTANT INBOX ADDRESS implies
 OPEN, while its absence implies CLOSED.
SUBSCRIBER: a form of WATCHER that has asked the PRESENCE SERVICE to
 notify it immediately of changes in the PRESENCE INFORMATION of one or
 more PRESENTITIES.
SUBSCRIPTION: the information kept by the PRESENCE SERVICE about a
 SUBSCRIBER's request to be notified of changes in the PRESENCE
 INFORMATION of one or more PRESENTITIES.
VISIBILITY RULES: constraints on how a PRESENCE SERVICE makes
 WATCHER INFORMATION available to WATCHERS. For each WATCHER's WATCHER
 INFORMATION, the applicable VISIBILITY RULES are manipulated by the
 WATCHER USER AGENT of a PRINCIPAL that controls the WATCHER.
 Motivation: We need a way of talking about hiding watcher information
 from people.
WATCHER: requests PRESENCE INFORMATION about a PRESENTITY, or
 WATCHER INFORMATION about a WATCHER, from the PRESENCE
 SERVICE. Special types of WATCHER are FETCHER, POLLER, and
 SUBSCRIBER.
WATCHER INFORMATION: information about WATCHERS that have received
 PRESENCE INFORMATION about a particular PRESENTITY within a particular
 recent span of time. WATCHER INFORMATION is maintained by the PRESENCE
 SERVICE, which may choose to present it in the same form as PRESENCE
 INFORMATION; that is, the service may choose to make WATCHERS look
 like a special form of PRESENTITY.
 Motivation: If a PRESENTITY wants to know who knows about it, it
 is not enough to examine only information about SUBSCRIPTIONS. A
 WATCHER might repeatedly fetch information without ever
 subscribing. Alternately, a WATCHER might repeatedly subscribe,
 then cancel the SUBSCRIPTION. Such WATCHERS should be visible to
 the PRESENTITY if the PRESENCE SERVICE offers WATCHER INFORMATION,
 but will not be appropriately visible if the WATCHER INFORMATION
 includes only SUBSCRIPTIONS.
WATCHER USER AGENT: means for a PRINCIPAL to manipulate zero or
 more WATCHERS controlled by that PRINCIPAL.
 Motivation: As with PRESENCE USER AGENT and PRESENTITY, the
 distinction here is intended to isolate the core functionality of a
 WATCHER from how it might appear to be manipulated by a product. As
 previously, we deliberately take no position on whether the WATCHER
 USER AGENT, WATCHER, and PRESENCE SERVICE are colocated or distributed
 across machines.
5. Security Considerations
This document provides a model and vocabulary for systems with certain
intrinsic security issues. In particular, presence and instant
messaging systems must deal with "the three S's": STALKING, SPOOFING,
and SPAM. ACCESS RULES, VISIBILITY RULES, and WATCHER INFORMATION are
intended to deal with STALKING. The several kinds of authentication
mentioned for INSTANT MESSAGE SERVICE and PRESENCE SERVICE are
intended to deal with SPOOFING. DELIVERY RULES are intended to deal
with SPAM.
6. Conclusion
This document has provided a model for a presence and instant
messaging system. The purpose of the model is to provide a common
vocabulary for the further work of defining and implementing
interoperable presence and instant messaging protocols.
7. Acknowledgements
This document has been improved by comments from Jesse Vincent and
Colin Benson, by the participants in the Cambridge, MA meeting on June
11, 1999, and by Roy Salisbury, who contributed the original version
of Figure 5. The authors gratefully acknowledge their assistance.
8. References
[ENVY] M. Day. ''HTTP Envy'' and Presence Information Protocols.
Internet-Draft draft-day-envy-00.txt
[PIPR] M. Calsyn, L. Dusseault. Presence Information Protocol
Requirements. Internet-Draft draft-dusseault-pipr-00.txt
[PRESENCE] V. Saraswat, J. Malcolm, C. Apple. The Presence
Protocol. Internet-Draft draft-saraswat-presenceprotocol-00.txt
[RPIM] M. Day. Requirements for Presence and Instant Messaging.
Internet-Draft draft-day-rpim-00.txt
[RVP-ADDR] L. Dusseault, G. Mohr. Addressing and Location for
RVP. Internet-Draft draft-dusseault-rvp-addr-00.txt
[RVP] M. Calsyn, L. Dusseault, G. Mohr. RVP: A Presence Notification
Protocol. Internet-Draft draft-calsyn-rvp-01.txt
[SIP-PIP] J. Rosenberg, H.Schulzrinne. SIP For Presence.
Internet-Draft draft-rosenberg-sip-pip-00.txt
[WHODP] G. Mohr. WhoDP: Widely Hosted Object Data Protocol.
Internet-Draft draft-mohr-whodp-00.txt
9. Authors' Addresses
Mark Day
Lotus Development Corporation
55 Cambridge Parkway
Cambridge, MA 02142
USA
email: Mark_Day@lotus.com
Jonathan Rosenberg
Lucent Technologies, Bell Laboratories
Rm. 4C-526
101 Crawfords Corner Rd.
Holmdel, NJ 07733
USA
email: jdrosen@bell-labs.com
Hiroyasu Sugano
Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd.
64 Nishiwaki, Ohkubo-cho
Akashi 674-8555 
Japan
email: suga@flab.fujitsu.co.jp