ICQ

Account

To use the service, you need to register an account , which can be done through the client interface, as well as the Internet portal. To identify users, the service uses the UIN (Universal Identification Number) - a unique number for each account, consisting of 5-9 Arabic digits. This number is assigned to the account during the initial registration of the user in the system, after which, together with the password , it can be used for authentication in the system. In the latest version of the mobile client for J2ME, it became possible to log in using a mobile phone number, which becomes the login for a new user. In the program updates, by the end of 2018, there was a requirement to attach a mobile phone to the current account, which was the fulfillment of the requirements of the Russian law on the identification of messenger users, which was enacted in May 2019 ^[3] .

In the fall of 2011, an important change was made to ICQ: ICQ now supports multiple connections using the same account ^[4] .

For each account, the service stores the following data:

• nickname - the display name of the user, which, unlike the UIN, can be changed, and which is not unique, that is, it can be the same for different accounts;
• an email address that allows you to restore access to your account in the event of a password loss, and can also be used to enter the system instead of the hard-to-remember UIN (previously also used in the search);
• public information entered by the user, which may include first name, last name, list of hobbies, geographical location, knowledge of languages, text description, etc .;
• one avatar in BMP , JPEG or GIF format ;
• contact list - a set of UIN- numbers of interlocutors, formed by the user, to which he can have quick access and view their presence status through the client interface;
• presence status;
• additional informational status.

The message history on the servers is not saved, and can only be stored locally by the client program on the user's device, and be accessible through its interface.

You can initiate correspondence with another user and add him to your contact list, knowing his UIN. In turn, to search for users in the system, there is an internal search function available through the client interface, which allows you to receive lists of users that meet the criteria entered in the search query: match by nickname, as well as additional information entered by users.

Ability to delete account

Initially, this possibility existed, but after the reorganization in 2002, the account (UIN) became impossible to delete. This entailed hundreds of “ghosts” - registered in the system, but not used accounts. Currently, the ability to delete an account again exists and is available on the official ICQ website. ^[five]

Presence status

Each account is associated with a presence status, which is an indicator of whether the user is connected to the network or not, and whether he is currently ready to respond to messages. The status of the user is also shown in the contact list and in the dialog box. The main status of the user is an indicator of his presence in the system and his willingness to respond to messages (although recently the number of statuses has increased sharply and has ceased to meet these requirements). Traditionally, there are a number of basic statuses.

If the user is completely absent from the system at the moment (not authorized), then he is assigned the status of "Offline" or "Offline" (Offline); if it is online (authorized), then it is assigned the status of "Online" or "Online" (Online). There are also several intermediate statuses:

• Away - indicates that the user for a certain time did not show activity (did not move the mouse and did not press keys). Status can be set manually, they usually signal a short period of absence at the computer.
• Unavailable (N / A - Not Available) - indicates that the user received the status of “Away” and from that moment on continued for some time to remain in an inactive state. It can also be set forcibly and is usually signaled by a long-term absence at the computer (exception: in ICQ 5.x this status is set automatically when switching to full-screen mode).

As a rule, auto-transition to these statuses (Away and N / A) can be disabled in the client settings.

There are also “Free for chat”, “Do not disturb”, and “Occupied” statuses. Starting with ICQ 4, they cannot be affixed, but can be read by other users who, for example, use ICQ 2003b or lower, as well as many alternative clients. However, with the advent of ICQ 6, the opportunity to set the status to Occupied returned, but at the same time the opportunity to receive the status of Free for chat was lost. It is also worth noting that in ICQ 6, the Do not disturb and Occupied statuses set by another user are treated the same way, that is, as Occupied.

In addition, for the account, the user can set a special mode - “invisible mode” (invisible). In this mode, other users will receive an offline status for the account, and only users whose accounts have been included in the user's visibility list will be able to know about the active invisibility mode and receive the current presence status.

Additional information status

Since the advent of ICQ 5, small additions have been made to the ICQ protocol, which allowed users to have two statuses at once - the primary and secondary ^{[ specify ]} . However, until a certain point (namely, before the release of ICQ 6, in which, however, small changes were made in this aspect of the protocol), this was nothing more than a feature of the ICQ protocol that many alternative ICQ clients use. ICQ 5 and ICQ 5.1 offered the user only the opportunity to set either one of the main statuses, or any of the additional ones. However, it is worth noting that if the client’s settings are set to auto switch to Away and / or N / A status after a certain time, then it could quietly put on top of the additional status set by the user. The price of the full implementation of this mechanism in ICQ 6 was the inability to view the additional status and its contents in older versions of ICQ (5.0x and 5.1). However, a plus appeared - the ability to insert formatted RTF text into the status.

List of contacts

Prior to the release of ICQ 2001, the contact list was stored on the client side. Starting with ICQ 2001, user contacts are stored on the server, which allows you to not add contacts again when you log into your account from different devices. Contacts in the list can be divided into groups, the names and quantity of which are changed by the user.

When adding a contact, authorization may be required - permission to see its presence status and send files to it. For such contacts, an authorization request is generated, which reaches the user of the added account in the form of a system notification, to which he can respond either with consent or with refusal, optionally providing the solution with text comment.

Maximum can have 1000 contacts ^[6] .

Private Lists

To ensure the necessary level of confidentiality in ICQ, there are several lists that perform a specific function in which each user can enter any contacts without notifying the latter.

There are 3 lists:

• Ignored list - no notifications come from users on this list, they are not shown any status of the user who has added, except for “Offline”. When added to this list, the user is removed from the contact list, when deleted, it is added automatically. If the contact requires authorization, then it will have to be requested again.
• List of viewers - users from this list are shown the Invisible status if it is selected, with the exception of the Invisible for All option, which is possible in some alternative clients (for example, QIP , Miranda , RnQ and others).
• List of non-viewers - users from this list are always shown the status "Offline", with the exception of the option "Visible to all", which is possible in some alternative clients.

The maximum number of contacts in each list is limited.

User Directory

Search

Message exchange

With each of the contacts you can conduct personal correspondence. If the sender has not disabled this feature, then, depending on the client, the recipient is informed about the message set, which creates the effect of the presence of the sender. Message length is limited ^{[ specify ]} .

If at the time of sending the messages the addressee was not on the network, they will be saved by the service and delivered to the addressee as soon as he is connected to the network.

The service allows you to use formatting in the text of sent messages, namely, to determine the headset, color, font style and font size of message fragments, the direction of the text, as well as insert emoticons into messages.

Sending files

ICQ implements file transfer using Peer-to-peer technology , that is, with a direct Internet connection of two computers, bypassing the server. File transfer is possible only when the status of the recipient is “Online”. Such a method of transferring files can be dangerous because the sender will recognize the recipient's IP (or vice versa) or send him malicious software . Starting with ICQ 5, it became possible to transfer files through the ICQ server itself, which plays an intermediary role. This is necessary if the ICQ client has determined that it is impossible to establish a P2P connection (closed ports in firewalls , lack of personal external IP, etc.).

ICQ has limited compatibility with AIM instant messaging. ICQ users can add AIM service users to their contact list, and vice versa.

In the fall of 2011, compatibility with the popular in Russia messenger Mail.ru Agent was added to ICQ. ^[7]

Since its inception, service owners have developed and provided users with a free computer client program .

In the graphical interface of the client there is banner advertising , the source code of the program is closed. Since March 1, 2012 ICQ has stopped showing ads to users in Russia and the CIS.

Initially, the program for using ICQ was created by Mirabilis. It was called ICQ, and all subsequent official clients had the same name (with the exception of Compad).

The name of the official client always starts with “ICQ” (except for the failed Compad project). Later clients provide additional functions under the general name ICQ Xtraz, such as: games, sending SMS , IP-telephony , video conferencing, multi-chat and many others.

There are also localized versions of clients supported by local IT companies. These customers usually have a different name from the base, which includes the name of the respective company. The company usually provides relevant banners for the country, allows you to associate a service account with its services (for example, postal).

Correspondence in ICQ is not personal (confidential) in the literal sense of the word, even though there are usually two active interlocutors. In accordance with the rules for using the service, all rights to the information transmitted through the service are transferred to AOL Inc., including the right to publish and disseminate at its discretion. The fact of using the service means acceptance by the user of these conditions.

With the acceptance of the acceptable use policy, the user transfers ICQ Inc. all copyrights to the data that he published as part of the ICQ service.

The terms of use of June 7, 2000 state ^[8] :

You agree that by sending any material or information through any ICQ service, you assign copyright and any other property rights to the published material or information. Further, you agree that ICQ Inc. has the right to use published material or information in any form and for any purpose, including, but not limited to, its publication and distribution.

Original text

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.

Third Party Clients

In addition to the official clients provided by AOL and its partners, there are a number of unofficial clients created by third-party developers. Among them are clients for different platforms, coming out under free and proprietary licenses, multi-protocol and supporting exclusively the ICQ service.

These clients were created using reverse engineering of the OSCAR protocol, thereby violating ICQ Terms of Services . The OSCAR protocol specification was not open until 2008.

Such clients, due to the peculiarities of their implementation, as a rule, give the user some features that cannot be provided by the currently released versions of AOL clients. Among these features may include:

• the ability to use the service on a wider range of platforms - namely, those platforms for which the official client versions are not released or whose support has been discontinued (for example, Windows Mobile );
• less demanding on computer hardware resources;
• great opportunities in configuring the program’s behavior, its graphical interface, using additional functions (for example, checking for ignore), etc.
• for customers with an open development model - the ability to research and modify the source code of the program;
• for multi-protocol clients - the ability to combine communication in one program at once according to several different protocols.

On the other hand, ICQ Xtraz, which provides entertainment services, is not available to them.

Unofficial clients can also add additional functionality related to the implementation of the service. In particular, the following features may be available:

• sending text of any length by breaking it into separate messages by the client itself;
• prohibition of sending notifications to the interlocutor of a set of messages
• adding a user requiring authorization to the contact list without going through it;
• encryption of transmitted messages if both parties use a compatible client.

Alternative Customers

• QIP2005 - Russian proprietary free client for Windows
• & RQ and its forks ( R&Q , etc.)
• Licq
• stICQ
• iChat

Specialized Clients

• Jimm and its modifications - for mobile phones and smartphones .
• Wapalta is a mobile application that has an ICQ module. Designed for mobile phones supporting Java MIDP 2.0.
• Pigeon! - ICQ client for Windows Mobile, support for a number of other services was later added.

Web Services

• meebo is a client implemented as a web service .
• imo.im is an alternative web client with encryption.

Gateways

On November 15, 1996, Arik Vardi, Yair Goldfinger, Safi Wigiser and Amnon Amir, high school students from Tel Aviv ( Israel ), founded the Mirabilis company and created the ICQ Internet messenger.

The software was initially distributed free of charge (unlike competitors).

The number of users grew like an avalanche. Mirabilis offered IM not only to private users, but also to corporate clients.

In 1998, the company was acquired by the American corporation AOL for $ 407 million and was transformed into part of the Time Warner branch - ICQ, Incorporated ^[10] .

Microsoft made attempts to lure users of ICQ ^[11] :

• I tried first to develop an IM protocol that would be more attractive than ICQ ^{[12] [13]} .
• I tried to buy a company, but was refused.
• I tried to make the protocols compatible (so that Windows Messenger users could communicate with ICQ users), but the owner of ICQ changed the protocol every time.

As a result, Microsoft abandoned its plans.

In April 2010, Digital Sky Technologies (DST) investment fund, co-owned by Alisher Usmanov , entered into an agreement with AOL to acquire ICQ instant messaging service for $ 187.5 million ^[14] . After the reorganization of DST in September 2010, ICQ became part of the Mail.ru Group.

Protocol Modifications

From mid-2008 to early 2009, the service made technical changes to the protocol, the actual result of which was the interruption in the work of unofficial clients. In the same period, AOL published press releases and on the service’s website recommending the use of only official ones, the so-called Authorized service clients. The following is a chronology of significant events.

• In July 2008, changes were made on ICQ servers, as a result of which many unofficial clients stopped working. They received an official notification from the ICQ System contact.
• On December 9, the next changes were made on ICQ servers, after which clients sending an identifier that does not match ICQ 5.1 and higher stopped working.
• On December 29, the ICQ press service issued a statement in which it called third-party clients dangerous ^[15] .
• January 21 ^{[ specify ] In} 2009, all unofficial clients for the territory of the CIS countries began to block servers ^[16] .

Users with IP addresses of Russia and the CIS countries receive a message from contact with UIN 1:

System message

ICQ does not support the version you are using. Download the free authorized version of ICQ from the official ICQ website.

Original text

System message

The version you are using is not supported by ICQ. Download a free authorized ICQ version from ICQ's official website.

On icq.com for Russian-speaking users, an “important message for ICQ users” appears: “ICQ only supports authorized versions of programs: ICQ Lite and ICQ 6.5.”

By January 22, 2009, the revised versions of their alternative clients had released: QIP (all versions, including mobile), Miranda .

• On February 3, 2009, the situation repeated on January 21 ^[17] .

• On December 28, 2018, the ICQ administration turned off support for the old protocol, thereby blocking access to the ICQ service to old official applications and third-party clients. ICQ gradually refuses to use identification by a unique UIN number, so user identification is now tied to a cell phone number ^[18] .

Cracker attacks

• On August 16, 2010, with the help of a communicating bot, attackers began sending out a file with a virus that changes the password for UIN and sends the same virus to the entire contact list.

ICQ and its logo are a well-known and recognizable brand . The logo is a stylized image of a daisy flower with a yellow disc and eight petals, seven of which are painted green and one is red.

This image is used not only as a service logo, but also in the official client’s interface to visualize the process of connecting a client to the server, as well as an ideogram of presence statuses.

The name ICQ itself is an English homophone of the phrase “I seek you” ^[19] (“I am looking for you”).

According to Mail.ru Group ^{[20], the} monthly ICQ audience worldwide from December 2009 to December 2010 decreased by 35% (17.6 million people) and amounted to 33.5 million people. In December 2010, the audience in Russia amounted to 16.4 million people (decreased by 9% over the year). According to a report published on September 5, 2012 by Mail.ru Group ^[21] , the global monthly ICQ audience decreased from 30.8 to 20.5 million people from June 2011 to June 2012, including 10.8 million Russian users , thus losing another third of their audience this year.

According to Mail.ru Group, such a drop in audience is associated with an increase in the fight against spam bots , but other representatives of the IT industry do not agree with this. Senior Development Manager in Europe Osnat Zaretsky and Chairman of the Board of FINAM Investment Holding Vladislav Kochetkov believe that the fall in ICQ audience is part of the global trend: an increasing number of Internet users prefer to use social networks as a means of communication.

Confidentiality of correspondence and cooperation with Russian special services

According to a Novaya Gazeta article published in May 2018, Russian intelligence agencies have access to online reading of ICQ users' correspondence. The material examined 34 sentences of Russian courts, during the investigation of which evidence of the guilt of the defendants was obtained by reading correspondence on a PC or mobile device. Of the fourteen cases in which ICQ appeared, in six cases the removal of information occurred before the removal of the device. The reason for the material was the blocking of the Telegram service and the recommendation of the adviser to the President of the Russian Federation German Klimenko to use ICQ instead ^[22] .

• Official site
• What is ICQ
• Sergey Villanov. ICQ Thank you for being alive! (unspecified) . 3DNews (December 20, 2011). Date of treatment December 22, 2011.