[pct-l] OT - PCT IRC Channel

[Patrick Beggan]

Well, the usual reasons are related to pirated software. One of the  
largest distribution mediums of pirated movies, music, software is  
bots on IRC, second only to Usenet. IRC when used for purposes like  
that (as well as pornography of various legal and illegal flavors) is  
the reason its persona non grata with major hosting companies. No one  
wants to support bandwidth for such illicit purposes.

but IRC used solely for conversation is a danger to no one. And just  
like e-mail, the ultimate safety comes down to the self awareness of  
the users -- if someone you don't know tries to DCC (send) something  
to you, just like if you get an e-mail with an attachment you don't  
recognize, simply don't accept and you'll be fine.

It also helps to stick to small, easily policed networks like  
irc.xkcd.com or irc.foonetic.net -- less users means less chance for  
abuse. I've frequented rooms on irc.xkcd.com for awhile now and  
haven't had any problems with anything illicit, its just conversation.


On Jan 2, 2008, at 4:15 PM, Postholer wrote:

> Hey Patrick,
>
> I didn't mean to come off sounding brash. It did come out that way,  
> though. My apologies!
>
> Huge hosting providers such as rackspace, serverbeach, et al, will  
> block your server traffic immediately if they catch you running an  
> IRC service on your server. These folks rent/lease/house high end  
> servers in their co-location facilites. There must be a reason for  
> it beyond fearmongering.
>
> Scott
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Patrick Beggan"  
> <meta474 at gmail.com>
> To: "Postholer" <public at postholer.com>; <pct-l at backcountry.net>
> Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2008 12:58 PM
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] OT - PCT IRC Channel
>
>
>> That's irrational fearmongering. If we were on some big network  
>> like Efnet and half our users were hunting for porn or warez that  
>> might be  the case but on a small network like irc.xkcd.com that's  
>> far from the  case --  there's no bots to even offer downloads.  
>> (associated with  comic http://www.xkcd.com )
>>
>> IRC itself is no more or less dangerous than e-mail, as a medium,  
>> for transmission of virii or adware or spam. It's a conversation  
>> medium. A room and server properly policed offers no danger to its  
>> users.
>>
>> In fact, its safer than e-mail in the case of viruses and spam --  
>> most spam and viruses are transmitted by e-mail. Heck, I've never  
>> even been spammed on an IRC server because I stick to the tame parts.
>>
>> To call IRC the bottom of the barrel is incorrect. IRC isn't the   
>> ghetto of the internet, far from it. I think perhaps Postholer has  
>> had  some bad experiences on the bigger networks.
>>
>>
>> On Jan 2, 2008, at 3:48 PM, Postholer wrote:
>>
>>> IRC is widely known as the bottom of the barrel for viruses,  
>>> adware, spam,
>>> cross-scripting, bots and all unsavory things associated with the  
>>> internet.
>>> You've been warned. Some hosting providers won't even allow you  
>>> to  run a IRC
>>> server because of the nature of it.
>>>
>>> That's why I've never even considered associating postholer with  
>>> an  IRC
>>> service.
>>>
>>> -postholer
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------
>>> Trails : http://Postholer.Com
>>> Journals : http://Postholer.Com/journal
>>> Maps : http://Postholer.Com/gmap
>>>
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>