Secure IRC

The problem with central servers is that they are prone to single point failure. That failure may be computer down or key compromise. A good criterion for this kind of design is not to use central servers. This is almost always possible. (Or always possible, depending on who you ask.) There is also the question about getting permission to enter a room, which corresponds to an authentication or a key distribution or a voting algorithm or some sort. You need to know how you want that _social_ interaction to work before you design protocols. You should implement that sociality and test it without encryption to make sure it's what you want. Is this sounding familiar? Eric