Pardon my french, but the USPTO is staffed by a bunch of braindead morons. This ought to be against the law. Awarding patents like this ought to mean that the patent examiner who approved it is personally liable for making things right when the patents are found to be nonsensically awarded. It ought to mean that (s)he get's horsewhipped when someone can tell them "Do you know what 'IRC' stands for? Ever used CompuServe or a BBS? Have you ever used 'talk'? Asshole?"

It just boggles the mind how much arbitrary wealth the low-bid, non-technical rubber-stampers at the USPTO wield. It's very scary.