The Address is the Message
RFC 1776

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.

Crocker                                                         [Page 1]
RFC 1776               The Address is the Message           1 April 1995

Author's Address

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

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

Crocker                                                         [Page 2]