Internet Relay Chat Protocol version 3
draft-samuelson-irc-v3-00

Independent Submission                                      I. Samuelson
Internet-Draft                                   Independent Contributor
Intended status: Standards Track                          30 August 2024
Expires: 3 March 2025

                 Internet Relay Chat Protocol version 3
                       draft-samuelson-irc-v3-00

Abstract

   This document describes version 3 of the Internet Relay Chat (IRC)
   protocol, which extends the original IRC protocol to include support
   for audio and video capabilities.  It defines new message types,
   commands, and channel modes that allow for the transmission of audio
   and video data within the existing IRC framework, while maintaining
   backward compatibility with text-only clients and servers.

Status of This Memo

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   This Internet-Draft will expire on 3 March 2025.

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Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Conventions Used in This Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   3.  Protocol Extension Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   4.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   5.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   6.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   Author's Address  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4

1.  Introduction

   The Internet Relay Chat (IRC) protocol, originally defined in RFC
   1459 and updated in RFCs 2810-2813, provides a lightweight, text-
   based communication system.  This document introduces version 3 of
   the IRC protocol, which extends the original protocol to include
   support for audio and video capabilities, allowing users to exchange
   multimedia content within the familiar IRC framework.

   IRC v3 aims to maintain the simplicity and flexibility of IRC while
   adding the ability to transmit audio and video data.  It achieves
   this by introducing new message types, channel modes, and
   permissions, and by leveraging the existing Direct Client-to-Client
   (DCC) mechanism for larger data streams.

2.  Conventions Used in This Document

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
   document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119].

3.  Protocol Extension Overview

   IRC v3 introduces the following key components:

   1.  Extensions to DCC for audio and video streaming

   2.  New channel modes for audio and video capabilities

   3.  Extended user modes and flags for audio and video permissions

   4.  Modified JOIN command to specify media preferences

   5.  New PRIVMSG subcommands to manage media streams

   6.  Server-to-server commands for propagating A/V metadata

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4.  Security Considerations

   The introduction of audio and video capabilities brings new security
   considerations to IRC:

   1.  Denial of Service: Implementations MUST include measures to
       prevent abuse of audio/video streams that could lead to denial of
       service.

   2.  Privacy: Users MUST be clearly informed when audio/video streams
       are being initiated or received.

   3.  Content Verification: Clients SHOULD implement measures to verify
       and sanitize received audio/video content to prevent potential
       attacks through malformed data.

   4.  Encryption: All audio and video streams MUST be encrypted using
       TLS 1.3 or later to ensure user privacy.

5.  IANA Considerations

   This document requires IANA to update the IRC protocol registration
   to reflect the new version number and capabilities described herein.

6.  Normative References

   [RFC1459]  Oikarinen, J. and D. Reed, "Internet Relay Chat Protocol",
              RFC 1459, DOI 10.17487/RFC1459, May 1993,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc1459>.

   [RFC2810]  Kalt, C., "Internet Relay Chat: Architecture", RFC 2810,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2810, April 2000,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2810>.

   [RFC2811]  Kalt, C., "Internet Relay Chat: Channel Management",
              RFC 2811, DOI 10.17487/RFC2811, April 2000,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2811>.

   [RFC2812]  Kalt, C., "Internet Relay Chat: Client Protocol",
              RFC 2812, DOI 10.17487/RFC2812, April 2000,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2812>.

   [RFC2813]  Kalt, C., "Internet Relay Chat: Server Protocol",
              RFC 2813, DOI 10.17487/RFC2813, April 2000,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2813>.

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   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.

Author's Address

   Ido Samuelson
   Independent Contributor
   Email: ido.samuelson@example.com

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