I have been working on an idea or a secure chat system for internet and have up with some ideas. The concept is to runa server(a single server) to process the chat for up to say 50 users(more may lag you to death) using public key to secure the system. The server would be on an internet machine and the client would be on the users home pc. We use the home pc concept to avoid transporting raw data(unencrypted) over internet and phone lines. The basic gist (in a pseudo pseudocode) is this:

Tell me what you think. People are already wrking on this project, but many more may be needed to bring it to its completion. Since I am not the IP programmer from hell, at this point I am doing the pc client.

Hmmm, are you talking about '4m'? That is a similarly goaled communication system as well. Currently it exists in plain text format, between the clients and the (as of today, five) servers. The system has always been destined to have encryption built into it, from triple des and PK for the key transactions. To get into it quickly ftp /pub/misc/4m-212.tar.Z from ftp.santafe.edu and install. It runs on suns, bsd, aix and similar. I have an hpux port done by someone if it is required. It would seem smarter to develop an already existing and debugged instead of reinventing the wheel. Contact chasin@santafe.edu for details. Mark mark@coombs.anu.edu.au