Internet-Draft EN6 April 2026
GavCave Expires 29 October 2026 [Page]
Workgroup:
Network Working Group
Internet-Draft:
draft-gavcave-ipv6-emoji-notation-00
Published:
Intended Status:
Experimental
Expires:
Author:
GavCave

Emoji-Based Notation for IPv6 Addresses

Abstract

This document defines an alternative textual representation of IPv6 addresses using Unicode Emoji characters (hereinafter "Smileys") in place of hexadecimal digits. The proposed format, known as EmojiNotation6 (EN6), aims to make IPv6 addresses more expressive, more human-friendly, and significantly more fun at parties.

Additionally, this document specifies a MANDATORY content-classification prefix using the AUBERGINE character (U+1F346) for addresses serving adult content, hereafter referred to as the "Eggplant Requirement".

Status of This Memo

This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet-Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.

Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

This Internet-Draft will expire on 3 October 2026.

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction

The IPv6 addressing architecture, as defined in [RFC4291] and [RFC8200], relies on hexadecimal notation separated by colons. The canonical form is defined in [RFC5952]. While technically efficient, this format has proven to be:

This document proposes a mapping of the 16 hexadecimal digits (0-F) to 16 carefully selected emoji characters, producing addresses that are visually distinctive, emotionally engaging, and Instagram-ready.

2. Conventions and Definitions

The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here.

The author was mildly sleep-deprived during the writing of this specification.

3. Emoji Hexadecimal Mapping Table

Each hexadecimal digit SHALL be replaced by its corresponding emoji from the [UNICODE] standard as follows:

Table 1: Emoji Hexadecimal Mapping
Hex Unicode Description Rationale
0 U+1F600 Grinning Face Because zero should at least be happy about it
1 U+1F525 Fire The loneliest number, but lit
2 U+1F30D Earth Globe The Internet is global after all
3 U+1F3B5 Musical Note Three is the magic number
4 U+1F431 Cat Face The Internet was built for cats
5 U+2B50 Star Five-star rating
6 U+1F3B2 Game Die A standard die has six faces
7 U+1F308 Rainbow Seven colors in a rainbow
8 U+1F680 Rocket To infinity and beyond octet boundaries
9 U+1F355 Pizza Best enjoyed in slices of nine
A U+1F48E Gem Stone A is for precious
B U+1F984 Unicorn As mythical as a fully documented network
C U+1F3B8 Guitar C major chord
D U+1F409 Dragon Here be dragons
E U+26A1 High Voltage E for Energy
F U+1F52E Crystal Ball The future of networking

The colon separator (:) SHALL be replaced by the HANDSHAKE emoji (U+1FAF1, hereinafter referred to as the "Bro Separator").

The double-colon compression (::) SHALL be represented by the SLEEPING FACE emoji (U+1F634), indicating "nothing interesting here".

4. Address Representation Examples

4.1. Standard Address

Traditional notation:

    2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334

EN6 notation (expanded, per mapping in Table 1):

  Hex:  2     0    0    1    :    0    d       b       8
  EN6:  Globe Grin Grin Fire Bro  Grin Dragon  Unicorn Rocket

  Hex:  8      5    a   3    ::
  EN6:  Rocket Star Gem Note Sleep

  Hex:  8      a   2     e    :    0    3    7       0
  EN6:  Rocket Gem Globe Volt Bro  Grin Note Rainbow Grin

  Hex:  7       3    3    4
  EN6:  Rainbow Note Note Cat

4.2. Loopback Address

Traditional notation:

    ::1

EN6 notation:

    Sleep Fire     (U+1F634 U+1F525)

Traditional notation:

    fe80::1

EN6 notation:

    Crystal Volt Rocket Grin Sleep Fire
    (U+1F52E U+26A1 U+1F680 U+1F600 U+1F634 U+1F525)

5. The Eggplant Requirement (MANDATORY)

5.1. Rationale

Current IPv6 addressing provides no mechanism to identify the nature of content served by a host at the network layer. This document addresses this critical gap for one specific content category.

5.2. Specification

Any IPv6 address assigned to a server, CDN node, reverse proxy, or any network-facing device whose PRIMARY purpose is the distribution of adult or sexually explicit content MUST include the AUBERGINE prefix (U+1F346) prepended to the EN6 address.

The format SHALL be:

    U+1F346 <EN6 address>

Example:

    Aubergine Crystal Volt Rocket Grin Sleep Globe Gem Cat Globe
    (U+1F346  U+1F52E U+26A1 U+1F680 U+1F600 U+1F634
              U+1F30D U+1F48E U+1F431 U+1F30D)

5.3. Compliance

  • Registrars assigning IPv6 blocks to entities operating adult content platforms MUST enforce the Eggplant Requirement at the time of allocation.
  • DNS resolvers SHOULD display a brief warning ("U+1F346 detected in address -- content may not be suitable for all audiences") when resolving an Eggplant-prefixed address.
  • Parental control software MAY use the presence of U+1F346 as a filtering signal, which, for once, would actually be trivially easy to implement.
  • Any attempt to use U+1F346 for non-adult content (e.g., an actual eggplant recipe website) MUST be submitted for review to the newly created IANA Eggplant Disambiguation Committee (IEDC).

5.4. Penalties for Non-Compliance

Operators serving adult content without the U+1F346 prefix SHALL be subject to:

  • Public shaming on the NANOG mailing list,
  • A 30-day mandatory assignment of only IPv4 addresses in the 169.254.0.0/16 range,
  • Revocation of coffee privileges at IETF meetings.

6. Compression Rules

6.1. Zero Compression

Consecutive groups of U+1F600 U+1F600 U+1F600 U+1F600 (all-zero quartets) MAY be replaced by a single U+1F634 (SLEEPING FACE).

Only one U+1F634 is permitted per address. Use of multiple U+1F634 SHALL be interpreted as the operator being actually asleep and the address MUST be considered invalid.

6.2. Leading Zero Suppression

Leading U+1F600 (Grinning Face) characters within a quartet MAY be omitted.

    Grin Grin Fire Globe  ->  Fire Globe
    (U+1F600 U+1F600 U+1F525 U+1F30D  ->  U+1F525 U+1F30D)

7. Security Considerations

8. IANA Considerations

This document requests the following from IANA:

9. References

9.1. Normative References

[RFC2119]
Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.
[RFC4291]
Hinden, R. and S. Deering, "IP Version 6 Addressing Architecture", RFC 4291, DOI 10.17487/RFC4291, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4291>.
[RFC8174]
Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC 2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8174>.
[RFC8200]
Deering, S. and R. Hinden, "Internet Protocol, Version 6 (IPv6) Specification", STD 86, RFC 8200, DOI 10.17487/RFC8200, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8200>.

9.2. Informative References

[RFC5952]
Kawamura, S. and M. Kawashima, "A Recommendation for IPv6 Address Text Representation", RFC 5952, DOI 10.17487/RFC5952, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5952>.
[UNICODE]
The Unicode Consortium, "The Unicode Standard", , <https://www.unicode.org/versions/latest/>.

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank the Unicode Consortium for making this possible, the IETF for its tradition of April 1st RFCs that inspired this work, and his cat (U+1F431, hex value 4) for walking across the keyboard at a critical moment during drafting.

Author's Address

GavCave