Network Working Group GavCave Internet-Draft April 2026 Intended status: Experimental Expires: 29 October 2026 Emoji-Based Notation for IPv6 Addresses draft-gavcave-ipv6-emoji-notation-00 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. Copyright Notice Copyright (c) 2026 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved. GavCave Expires 29 October 2026 [Page 1] Internet-Draft EN6 April 2026 This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (https://trustee.ietf.org/ license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document. Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect to this document. Table of Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2. Conventions and Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 3. Emoji Hexadecimal Mapping Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 4. Address Representation Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 4.1. Standard Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 4.2. Loopback Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 4.3. Link-Local Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 5. The Eggplant Requirement (MANDATORY) . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 5.1. Rationale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 5.2. Specification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 5.3. Compliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 5.4. Penalties for Non-Compliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 6. Compression Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 6.1. Zero Compression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 6.2. Leading Zero Suppression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 7. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 8. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 9. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 9.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 9.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 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: * Emotionally cold, * Impossible to remember, * Completely devoid of personality, * A frequent cause of existential dread among junior network engineers. GavCave Expires 29 October 2026 [Page 2] Internet-Draft EN6 April 2026 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: +=====+=========+===============+=========================+ | 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 | GavCave Expires 29 October 2026 [Page 3] Internet-Draft EN6 April 2026 +-----+---------+---------------+-------------------------+ | 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 | +-----+---------+---------------+-------------------------+ Table 1: Emoji Hexadecimal Mapping 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 GavCave Expires 29 October 2026 [Page 4] Internet-Draft EN6 April 2026 4.2. Loopback Address Traditional notation: ::1 EN6 notation: Sleep Fire (U+1F634 U+1F525) 4.3. Link-Local Address 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 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 GavCave Expires 29 October 2026 [Page 5] Internet-Draft EN6 April 2026 * 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) GavCave Expires 29 October 2026 [Page 6] Internet-Draft EN6 April 2026 7. Security Considerations * The Eggplant Requirement provides a new, highly visible layer of content classification at the addressing level. However, it relies on operator honesty, which historically has not been the strongest attribute of the internet. * An attacker could theoretically prepend U+1F346 to any address to trigger parental control filters, effectively denial-of-service- ing legitimate services. This is known as an "Eggplant Injection Attack" (EIA). * Emoji rendering varies across platforms. An address that appears as a friendly U+1F431 (Cat Face) on iOS may render as a terrifying feline on Samsung devices. This is considered a feature, not a bug. * Autocorrect systems on mobile devices may substitute emoji during manual address entry, potentially routing traffic to unintended destinations. Operators are advised not to configure BGP sessions via iMessage. 8. IANA Considerations This document requests the following from IANA: * Registration of the EN6 address format in the "IPv6 Address Text Representations" registry. * Creation of the "Emoji-Hex Mapping Table" registry. * Establishment of the IANA Eggplant Disambiguation Committee (IEDC), with at least one member who can keep a straight face. * Reservation of the U+1F346 prefix for content classification purposes. Future prefixes under consideration include U+1F3B0 (gambling), U+1F9C0 (French government services), and U+1F480 (deprecated services). 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, March 1997, . GavCave Expires 29 October 2026 [Page 7] Internet-Draft EN6 April 2026 [RFC4291] Hinden, R. and S. Deering, "IP Version 6 Addressing Architecture", RFC 4291, DOI 10.17487/RFC4291, February 2006, . [RFC8174] Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC 2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174, May 2017, . [RFC8200] Deering, S. and R. Hinden, "Internet Protocol, Version 6 (IPv6) Specification", STD 86, RFC 8200, DOI 10.17487/RFC8200, July 2017, . 9.2. Informative References [RFC5952] Kawamura, S. and M. Kawashima, "A Recommendation for IPv6 Address Text Representation", RFC 5952, DOI 10.17487/RFC5952, August 2010, . [UNICODE] The Unicode Consortium, "The Unicode Standard", 2024, . 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 Email: gavcave@example.com GavCave Expires 29 October 2026 [Page 8]