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Why Google Isn’t Talking to Other Jabber Servers

Since the release of Google’s IM application (powered by XMPP protocol aka Jabber) folks have been wondering why Google’s Jabber server does not talk to other servers, just like mail servers do. After all, one of the key features of the XMPP protocol is federation which allows Jabbers servers to talk to each other. However, what is often missed here is the spam angle – one of the main reasons why email spam exists is specifically due to the fact that any email server can talk to any other server. To counteract these problems the Jabber RFC itself mentions this (section 14.3):

Because service provisioning is a matter of policy, it is OPTIONAL for any given domain to communicate with other domains, and server-to-server communications MAY be disabled by the admnistrator of any given deployment.

It also specified the use of digital certificates but we can leave this to an inquiring reader.

HOWEVER, the key point here is that Google is NOT required to open its servers even according to the XMPP/Jabber spec itself – it is a matter of “policy”. Instead they have opted to an “opt-in” approach for federation – negotiating with each provider who wants to federate. And undoubtably their terms will include “no spamming”.

On a last note, it is interesting to note that IF Google in fact chooses selectively whom to federate with, this will give them tremendous power over the XMPP arena in general, just like in many cases AOL does in the email area. Something to munch on…

Tags: google, jabber, open standards —

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