IRC: illegal requests for connections

As part of a team who works on an IRC client I find this to be a little out in left field.

Yes, I agree that there are illegal activities on IRC, and even many file transfers of copyrighted material. But where do channels like #windowshelp, and #win98 fit in? These are simply help channels where individuals offer free advice and technical assistance. There are many of those types of channels. And they are never mentioned in these types of editorials. What about #vbhelp and #ASP? These channels offer detailed technical assistance to any who look for help. If you were a programmer before Google and needed help, you would hop on IRC way before hitting the MSDN.

And while discussing other genres of channels, online dating has always been quite popular. I actually have used IRC to find new employees when looking for programmers in my local areas.

IRC is not the dark side of the internet as many would like you to believe. We were the pre-AOL, pre-Yahoo, pre-MSN instant messaging medium. And there are many of us who use IRC daily for perfectly legal purposes, and sometimes we have great days were we benefit our local communities (IRL).

No one ever mentions NNTP in these editorials… Just food for though.

Tyler Lynch
Aka: CybrCyfr
Team Klient (www.klient.com)

Dear Tyler (and the rest of our great UES communti),

As you [the reader] may have noticed, many of the stories posted here on UES are items of interest that myself as well as the rest of the UES staff find interesting. The kind of stories that make you say “what?” or “you’ve got to be kidding me”.

In regards to the post regarding illegal activity via various IRC channels… I appologize for the following blanket statement:

“I am not surprised. I’ve poked my head into one or two IRC chat rooms to find numerous opportunities for file transfers. What else is IRC for?”

I may have been a little quick to generalize based on what little experience I have had with IRC chat rooms. I understand that topics of illegal actiivty are touchy in this day and age. I also understand that IRC is an indispensable medium for “legal” conversations and discussions. Do remember that this story was simply an item of interest that caught my eye. Next time I find an article shouting “aim/msn users trade pirated software”, I will make sure to post. It looks like the same heated debate is happening on slashdot (the source for this post).

As Tyler has mentioned in his comment “IRC is not the dark side of the internet”.

Derek