email-connect/docs/email-evidence-canon.md

Email Evidence Canon

Rule

Email events are evidence, not result satisfaction.

The scanner reports email-channel facts and uncertainty. A downstream coordination runtime decides whether those facts satisfy a coordination case.

Initial Message Classes

• hard_bounce
• soft_bounce
• delayed_delivery_notice
• final_delivery_failure
• out_of_office
• human_reply
• complaint_or_abuse
• unsubscribe_or_opt_out
• challenge_response
• unknown_return_message
• unrelated_message
• parse_failed

Initial Normalized Events

Message class	Normalized event	Assessment
hard_bounce	notification.endpoint.rejected_permanent	fail.hard_bounce
soft_bounce	notification.endpoint.rejected_temporary	undef.deferred
delayed_delivery_notice	notification.endpoint.deferred	undef.deferred
final_delivery_failure	notification.endpoint.rejected_permanent	fail.expired_without_delivery
out_of_office	interaction.out_of_office_received	undef.out_of_office
human_reply	interaction.reply_received	success.reply_received
complaint_or_abuse	notification.channel.complaint_received	fail.complaint_received
unsubscribe_or_opt_out	notification.channel.unsubscribe_received	fail.unsubscribed
unknown_return_message	notification.endpoint.unknown	undef.conflicting_evidence
challenge_response	interaction.unverified_actor_interaction	undef.identity_uncertain

Overclaim Prevention

• No bounce found does not mean delivery success.
• Provider acceptance does not mean endpoint acceptance.
• Endpoint acceptance does not mean inbox placement.
• Out-of-office does not prove recipient awareness or action.
• Human reply does not prove legal acceptance.
• Unknown return messages remain visible.
• Scanner and proxy interactions must stay below identity-bound interaction.