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RFC 1776 INFORMATIONAL HUMOR · APRIL FOOLS · ADDRESSES

IPng address joke: The Address is the Message

A satirical claim that IPng chose addresses with no room for messages.

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PUBLISHED
April 1995
AUTHORS
S. Crocker
STREAM
INDEPENDENT
FICTIONAL ADDRESS SPACE
1696 bytes
MULTIPLE NOTED IN THE MEMO
53
DOI
10.17487/RFC1776

RFC text

Contents
Original text · RFC Editor View on rfc-editor.org ↗ 
Network Working Group                                         S. Crocker
Request for Comments: 1776                               CyberCash, Inc.
Category: Informational                                     1 April 1995


                       The Address is the Message

Status of this Memo

   This memo provides information for the Internet community.  This memo
   does not specify an Internet standard of any kind.  Distribution of
   this memo is unlimited.

Discussion

   Declaring that the address is the message, the IPng WG has selected a
   packet format which includes 1696 bytes of address space.  This
   length is a multiple of 53 and is completely compatible with ATM
   architecture.  Observing that it's not what you know but who you
   know, the IPng focused on choosing an addressing scheme that makes it
   possible to talk to everyone while dispensing with the irrelevant
   overhead of actually having to say anything.

   Security experts hailed this as a major breakthrough.  With no
   content left in the packets, all questions of confidentiality and
   integrity are moot.  Intelligence and law enforcement agencies
   immediately refocused their efforts to detect who's talking to whom,
   and are silently thankful they can avoid divisive public debate about
   key escrow, export control and related matters.

   Although the IPng WG declared there should be more than enough
   address space for everyone, service providers immediately began vying
   for reserved portions of the address space.

Security Considerations

   Security issues are not discussed in this memo.

Author's Address

   Steve Crocker
   CyberCash, Inc.
   2086 Hunters Crest Way
   Vienna, VA 22181

   Phone: +1 703 620 1222
   EMail: crocker@cybercash.com

ISO Plain Language

On this page
PROBLEMThe memo jokes about debates over how much address space a future Internet protocol should use.
MECHANISMIt claims that IPng chose 1696 bytes of address space, a length the memo notes is a multiple of 53 and compatible with ATM architecture.
THE PUNCH LINEWith so much space used for addresses, the fictional packet has no content left to protect, which drives the satire.

§1The Address Is the Message

The memo claims that the IPng working group selected a packet format with 1696 bytes of address space. It says that length is a multiple of 53 and compatible with ATM architecture.

The joke is that packets can identify whom to talk to but leave no room for anything to say, as reflected in the title.

The RFC pretends that an address field takes up the entire packet. The title gives the joke: the address itself becomes the message.

§1Security Without Packet Content

The memo says security experts celebrate because a packet with no content has no confidentiality or integrity concerns. It then jokes that intelligence and law-enforcement agencies focus on detecting who is communicating with whom, while service providers compete for reserved address space.

The satire turns the absence of message content into a supposed security solution. It shifts attention to communication patterns and competition for address allocations.

§3Status of the Memo

RFC 1776 is an informational April 1st document. It presents its claim as an IPng working-group decision. It does not specify an Internet standard.

This is an informational satire, not a real IPng packet specification.