The Quantum Bug
RFC 8774, “The Quantum Bug”, is an Informational document published in April 2020 by M. Welzl. The canonical text is published by the RFC Editor.
Abstract
The age of quantum networking is upon us, and with it comes "entanglement": a procedure in which a state (i.e., a bit) can be transferred instantly, with no measurable delay between peers. This will lead to a perceived round-trip time of zero seconds on some Internet paths, a capability which was not predicted and so not included as a possibility in many protocol specifications. Worse than the millennium bug, this unexpected value is bound to cause serious Internet failures unless the specifications are fixed in time.
What “Informational” means
Published for the general information of the community. It does not define an IETF standard and carries no standards-track status.
The canonical text of RFC 8774 is hosted at rfc-editor.org. Available in HTML,TXT,PDF,XML.
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