Iris deactivation code

The Iris Deactivation Code (IDC) is a number sent by a GDO in the television series' Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis to alert the respective control rooms of incoming travelers, so the iris or shield-respectively-May Be lowered.

Overview

Each SG team has a unique nine digit IDC (in the Milky Way, presumably the same is true for Atlantis teams), and it is changed as needed to maintain base security as well as periodically, per USAF regulations in similar situations. This was demonstrated in "Gemini," when the replicator form of Samantha Carter used an old IDC code to communicate with the SGC.

In addition, certain allies of the SGC, such as the Tok'ra and Bra'tac (presumably as well as other trusted leaders of the Free Jaffa Nation) have IDCs, so as to allow travel to the SGC.

Flaws

• The IDC proved to be a potential security weakness when the Replicators were able to use the open data port to open the iris on their own, from the other side of a wormhole (Reckoning). As well, SG-1's IDC was obtained by the first Human-Form Replicator through mental probing, revealing it to Jack O'Neill as 903-224-637. (Unnatural Selection).

• Originally, an IDC could open the iris without any human interference required from anyone at Stargate Command. ("Cold Lazarus") Currently, a hand scanner is used. It has been shown that both Walter Harriman and Samantha Carter have authorization to use this hand scanner.

IDC Alternatives and Equivalents

Some early allies of the SGC (such as the people from the Land of Light in the first season episode "The Broca Divide") were given boxes (according to Samantha Carter, they were made by the Sagan Foundation) made out of an alloy with a unique mixture of isotopes, whose residue could be detected and identified after being sent through the Stargate and destroyed by the Iris. This would act as a non-computerized IDC, prompting SGC to open the iris just as if an IDC had been sent. While the purpose was never stated explicitly, this entry method to the SGC was GeneRally given to off-world allies who were too technologically inexperienced to understand the computerized GDO.

Radio signals may travel through a wormhole, and so it is possible to contact the SGC to be allowed to return, if their GDO has been damaged. It is likely that the traveler will be told to meet on a third, neutral planet, where safety may be guaranteed.

Continuity

• In "New Order", Daniel Jackson tells Dr. Elizabeth Weir that IDC stands for Identification, before being cut off.

This has been a common belief amongst fans, though the official canon is "Iris Deactivation Code".

• Though in Unnatural Selection the IDC was 9 digits long, the screenshot of the computer interpreting an IDC above clearly is not.

See also

• GDO The "garage door opener"
• Iris (Stargate)
• Stargate (device)
• Stargate Command

External links

• [http://gateworld.net/omnipedia/technology/links/i.d.c..shtml Gateworld's Omnipedia Entry]