Unlike America Online, IRC is not a company, equipped with a monitoring infrastructure responsible for locating and eradicating deviant criminal behavior. It is a virtual unchecked freedom offered by IRC that makes it appealing to the criminal element. IRC is especially popular among the community of pedophiles because its technology allows this group to seek child victims. Because of the criminal activity prevalent through IRC, detectives must familiarize themselves with the technology. IRC is an interactive conversational service, taking place in nearly real time that offers worldwide communication. It is a network of many users (clients) linked together in which users login and communicate with other users (clients). IRC offers several client programs that users can download to access the network of IRC servers. Once the client software is installed on the user's PC, he simply signs onto the Internet via his ISP and he has IRC capabilities. When joining a channel, the user needs a name, which would be equivalent of a handle on a CB radio. The screen name identifies the user in the room and appears like the script of a play as the conversation progresses. If screen names are always changing, the way to track any communication is in the IP (Internet protocol) address. IP addresses are necessary to accomplish anything on the Internet. The IP address is the main link to the suspect. The IRC client software allows law enforcement to reveal a fellow user's IP address, providing crucial information about the user's real identity. IRC clients allow the user to document and log the IP address of other users. Although the IP address in an IRC chat session is the most valuable piece of information, the screen names are also important. The importance of all these names (screen names, channel names, etc.) is that they provide the terms that a computer forensic examiner will search for when examining a suspect's hard drive. IRC is a good example of the kind of accessibility that pedophiles have to potential victims.