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ICQ
Developer	Mirabilis, AOL
Latest release	6.0.6039 / November 28, 2007
OS	Windows, Macintosh, mobile phones
Genre	Instant messaging client
License	Adware
Website	ICQ

ICQ is an instant messaging computer program, owned by Time Warner's AOL subsidiary. ICQ was first developed by the Israeli company Mirabilis. The first version of the program was released in November 1996. The name ICQ is an initialism on the phrase "I seek you".

Contents 1 Features 2 Other products 3 UIN 4 Development history 4.1 First versions 4.2 Later versions 5 In popular culture 6 Clients 7 Criticism 8 See also 9 External links 10 References

ICQ features include sending text messages, offline support, multi-user chats, free daily-limited SMS sending, resumable file transfers, greeting cards and multiplayer games. Other features included a searchable user directory and POP3 email support. While many users may benefit from these features, others regard them as "bells and whistles" which tend to clutter the page, and which are weakly organized.

ICQ users are identified by numbers called UIN, distributed in sequential order. As of ICQ 6, users are also able to log in using the specific E-Mail address they associated with their UIN during the registration process. New users are now given a UIN of well over 400,000,000, and low numbers (six or five digits) have been auctioned on eBay by users who signed up in ICQ's early days. Since 2000, ICQ and AIM users are able to add each other to their contact list without the need of any external clients. Otherwise ICQ's Terms of Service do not allow users to communicate with users of other services.

ICQ Pro came about since the emergence of ICQ Lite to differentiate between the two available clients. Though the "Pro" brand has yet to be updated, ICQ versions 4, 5 and 5.1 are in effect updates to the veteran 2003 Pro version, which is commonly considered to be "version 3".

Also available is "ICQ2Go" which is an online, minimalistic version of the fully fledged software, written in Flash, or its older version using Java.

ICQ inc. also developed an alpha version of Compad, an experimental instant messaging client similar to ICQ, though it is not available for worldwide use.

Spinoffs of ICQ included a corporate version for the workplace (named ICQ Groupware), and ICQ Surf, which displayed a list of other ICQ users who also happened to be surfing on the same website as the user. These programs are no longer available.

UIN was coined by Mirabilis, to be used as the name of the so called Universal Internet Number or Unified Identification Number that each user of the ICQ instant messaging software is assigned upon registration. Unlike most other instant messaging programs, in ICQ the only information that is permanent to a registered user is the UIN, although users are able to search for users by their e-mail address, much like MSN, or in fact any other detail that the user made public about himself or herself. The screen name may be changed at will, without having to re-register, as can all other kinds of user information, including e-mail.

As a response to increasing UIN theft or sale of attractive or very short UINs, ICQ started to store email addresses previously associated to a UIN. UINs that are stolen can sometimes be reclaimed. (This only applies if a valid primary email address has been entered into the user profile since 1999.)

ICQ was developed in 1996 by Mirabilis. The company was founded by four young Israelis: Yair Goldfinger, Arik Vardi, Sefi Vigiser and Amnon Amir. After AOL bought it, it was managed by Ariel Yarnitsky and Avi Shechter.

America Online acquired Mirabilis on June 8, 1998 for $407 million, ($287 million in cash and $120 million over a three-year period based on growth performance levels).

• ICQ 2000 incorporated the now-defunct Notes and Reminder features.

• ICQ 2001 has presented the important feature: support of server-side contact list. It meant that the user could get access to the contact list from any PC where has been installed ICQ 2001 or above.

• On December 19, 2002, AOL Time Warner announced that ICQ had been issued a United States patent for instant messaging.

• ICQ 2002 was the last completely advertising-free ICQ version...

• ICQ Pro 2003b was the first ICQ version to use the ICQ protocol version 10. However, ICQ 5 and 5.1 use version 9 of the protocol. ICQ 2002 and 2003a used version 8 of the ICQ protocol. Earlier versions (ICQ 2001b and all ICQ clients before it) used ICQ protocol version 7.

• ICQ 4 and later ICQ 5 (released on Monday, February 7, 2005), were upgrades on ICQ Lite. One addition was Xtraz, which offers games and features intended to appeal to younger users of the Internet. ICQ Lite was originally an idea to offer the lighter users of instant messaging an alternative client which was a smaller download and less resource-hungry for relatively slow computers.

• ICQ 5 introduced skins support. There are few official skins available for the current ICQ 5.1 at the official website; however, a number of user-generator skins have been made available for download.

• ICQ 6, released on 17 April 2007, is the first major update since ICQ 4. The user interface has been redesigned using Boxely, the same rendering engine used in AIM Triton. This change adds new features such as the ability to send IMs directly from the client's contact list. This version's sound clips were produced/augmented by the Israeli psychedelic trance duo Infected Mushroom.

ICQ, a short film about ICQ, was directed by Greg McLean, who later wrote Wolf Creek. The film was described by its writer as a mystery/drama, and it concerns a man who while surfing the ICQ network comes across a woman whose acquaintance he could well have done without. The relationship runs the gauntlet of intrigue through to the sinister. It was released in 2001. The short film took out the "Best Director" award in October 2001 at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival. On return to his home soil in Australia, McLean's film was nominated for Best Sound Design (short film) for the prestigious AFI (Australian Film Institute) awards in 2002.

ICQ also plays an important role in a Polish popular novel Samotność w sieci (Loneliness in the Net) as its main protagonists accidentally find each other in the Internet and, via ICQ, they develop a passionate feeling.

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AOL's OSCAR network protocol used by ICQ is proprietary, but a number of people have created more or less compatible, ICQ Terms of Service violating third-party clients, by using reverse engineering and protocol descriptions available on the net. These Clients include:

• Adium - supports ICQ, Yahoo!, AIM, MSN, Google Talk, and Jabber, for Mac OS X
• Ayttm - supports ICQ, Yahoo!, AIM, MSN, IRC, and Jabber
• bitlbee - instant messaging gateway for IRC, supports ICQ, Yahoo!, AIM, MSN, Google Talk, and Jabber
• centericq - supports ICQ, Yahoo!, AIM, MSN, IRC and Jabber, text-based
• climm - text-based (formerly mICQ)
• Easy message - Small instant messenger (250kb), supports MSN, AIM, ICQ, and Yahoo!.
• Fire - supports ICQ, Yahoo!, AIM, MSN, IRC, and Jabber, for Mac OS X
• heysan - Mobile Web supports ICQ, MSN, Yahoo! and AIM. http://m.heysan.com
• iChat - Mac only client, using ICQ's UIN as an AIM screenname.
• Kopete - supports AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo, Jabber, IRC, Gadu-Gadu, Novell GroupWise Messenger, and more. For Unix/Linux.
• Licq - supports ICQ, AIM and MSN. For Unix/Linux.
• Meebo - Ajax-based, supports ICQ, AIM, Yahoo!, MSN, GoogleTalk and Jabber
• Meetro - IM and social networking combined with location; supports AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo!
• Miranda IM - plugin based, open source, supports ICQ, Yahoo!, AIM, MSN, IRC, Google Talk, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu, BNet, and others. For MS Windows only.
• MirandaX Plus - Miranda IM preconfigured for ease of use.
• Naim - Minimal terminal program based on ncurses
• Pidgin (formerly Gaim) - supports ICQ, Yahoo!, AIM, MSN, IRC, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu, SILC, and others
• Proteus - supports ICQ, Yahoo!, Yahoo! Japan, AIM, MSN, Jabber and iChat Rendezvous, for Mac OS X
• SIM-IM
• Simkl History Saver - supports ICQ, Yahoo!, AIM, MSN
• stICQ - supports ICQ, for Symbian OS
• Trillian - supports ICQ, Yahoo!, AIM, MSN, IRC, Google Talk, Jabber and others
• QIP - Quiet Internet Pager - ICQ, AIM, and (partly) Jabber and XIMSS
• YSM - text-based
• Smarticq - ICQ client for mIRC.

AOL has recently begun making its ICQ software more AIM-like by adding AIM Smilies, as well as introducing cross AIM/ICQ communication. Users on ICQ are able to communicate with AIM users; however, such capability is in beta stages.

This section does not cite any references or sources. Please improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (December 2007)

• Acceptable Use Policy:

The acceptable use policy has been criticized for containing this passage:

You agree that by posting any material or information anywhere on the ICQ Services and Information you surrender your copyright and any other proprietary right in the posted material or information. You further agree that ICQ Inc. is entitled to use at its own discretion any of the posted material or information in any manner it deems fit, including, but not limited to, publishing the material or distributing it.

It is unclear if the passage is meant to include messages sent among the users or just information that is meant to be publicly available, like the user profiles.

• Protocol and structure:
  • The protocol is proprietary and along with the license it does not allow the user to communicate with users on other services.
  • ICQ has been criticized mainly for its lack of adequate security. Users report receiving spam messages either from other users, or, more commonly, from ICQ bots.
  • The service is centralised, making the users dependent on the services of the only provider.
  • User accounts are identified by a (mostly 9-digit) number.

• Missing Encryption:

ICQ only offers a scrambling of the transferred data. It is thus observable for each intermediary. Some alternative clients (see above) offer mechanisms of encryption like Off-the-Record Messaging. In the case of non-standard encryption methods, both communication parties may have to employ the same client software.

• Client software:
  • ICQ Pro 2003b was reported to have a vulnerability (see: coresecurity). AOL is advising users of its ICQ instant messaging service to update to the latest version of the ICQ software following the discovery of a bug in an older version of the product. Although the bug doesn't affect more recent ICQ software like ICQ 5.1, it could mean serious problems for ICQ Pro 2003b users. According to Max Caceres, director of product management at Core, a vendor of penetration testing software, crackers would attack a PC by sending a maliciously encoded instant message to any ICQ Pro 2003b user connected to the service. Victims "don't have to do anything at all," Caceres says. "Just by being there, someone can send them a message, and they can be compromised."
  • ICQ Lite versions ICQ 4, ICQ 5 and ICQ 5.1 are being criticized for being not really Lite, but cluttered and heavy.
  • ICQ 5 and ICQ 5.1 are criticized for being full of too much eye-candy and some of the veteran ICQ users find the games, included in the Xtraz center as silly and only suitable for children 0-8, although ICQ software is intended for use of people above 13 years of age, according to ICQ's policies.
  • ICQ 6 which was released on April 17, 2007, has been criticized as not yet working very well and being "no more than a beta version". Some people have problems getting the smilies, and the multichat option seems to be missing as yet.

• No customer support:

ICQ has also been criticized for lack of customer support. It is not possible to contact ICQ staff with questions or technical problems. The "Contact Us" link at the bottom of the ICQ website can only be used for Business, Sales and Marketing inquiries. The customer support is critical when one's ICQ account is stolen (or blocked by ICQ for no apparent reason).

• Adware:

ICQ is replete with constant and distracting advertising, and may therefore be classified as adware.

• Awkward user interface:

Many users find the interface to be confusing and lacking logical organization. Some users find it "painful for the eyes".

• Hijacking by ICQ:

ICQ can (and likely will) change your home page and your default search engine. It also adds toolbars to your homepage. These actions are executed without the user's consent. ICQ tends to connect to the Internet of its own accord, as soon as a computer is turned on. In effect, ICQ is hijacking computers.

• Other Risks:

• ICQ accounts are often stolen. ICQ usually provides no help for victims, except through their automated password retrieval system. But in fact, the system is intended primarily for people who forgot their passwords, and may be of no value to those whose accounts are stolen.

• A common source of viruses, Trojans, adware, hijacking, spam, spyware and other malware.

• Low-quality communications:

Many users complain that the transmission of the human voice sounds "tinny", and the webcam images are often subject to tiled rendering.

• Comparison of instant messaging clients
• Comparison of instant messaging protocols
• QQ - a separate Chinese instant messenger and network which had its previous name, OICQ, in conflict with ICQ.
• Yamigo - a service that allows ICQ chat via mobile phones over GPRS or other wireless data protocols

• Official ICQ Website

Time Warner

v • d • e Instant messaging clients
Multi-protocol:	Adium · Kopete · Miranda IM  · Pidgin · Trillian
Jabber/XMPP:	Exodus · Google Talk · JAJC · Psi
ICQ:	ICQ · QIP