Chat

The term chat refers to “software, such as Internet Relay Chat (“IRC”), [which] permit[s] multiple users to converse by selecting one of many discussion ‘channels’ active at any time.” “Commercial on-line services such as America Online, CompuServe, Prodigy, and the Microsoft Network offer their own chat systems for their members. Having joined a channel, the user can see and read messages transmitted by other users, each identified by a name the user selects upon joining the channel. Individual participants in IRC discussions know other participants only by the names they choose upon entering the discussion; users can participate anonymously by using a pseudonym.”