+<p><br>
+<h1>Introduction</h1>
+
+Chat protocols are very popular on the Internet. They have actually
+been very popular since the very first chat protocols appeared on the net.
+The Internet Relay Chat (IRC) was one of the first chat protocols, and quickly
+gained the status of being the most popular chat on the net. Today, IRC
+has several competitors from various other so called Instant Messaging (IM)
+protocols, such as ICQ. However, all of these different chat protocols
+have something in common; they are all insecure.
+<p>
+
+The security is important feature in applications and protocols in
+contemporary network environment. The older chat protocols, however have
+failed to deal with the growing security requirements on the Internet.
+It is not anymore enough to just provide services, like for example
+chat services. Now, they need to be secure services.
+<p>
+
+The Secure Internet Live Conferencing (SILC) protocol is a new generation
+chat protocol which provides full featured conferencing services, just
+like any other contemporary chat protocol provides. In addition, it
+provides security by encrypting and authenticating the messages in
+the network. The security has been the primary goal of the SILC protocol
+and the protocol has been designed from the day one security in mind.
+All packets and messages travelling in the SILC Network are always
+encrypted and authenticated. The network topology is also different
+from for example IRC network. The SILC network topology attempts to be
+more powerful and scalable than the IRC network. The basic purpose
+of the SILC protocol is to provide secure conferencing services.
+<p>
+
+The SILC Protocol have been developed as Open Source project. The
+protocol specifications are freely available and they have been submitted to
+the IETF. The very first implementations of the protocol are also already
+available.
+
+
+<h1>About This White Paper</h1>