Internet Relay Chat
I've noticed some discussions of IRC (Internet Relay Chat), both as a possible model for CP interactions, as well as a location for implementations of BlackNet (in #wares, etc.) Note that IRC, unlike MUDS, has been designed to ensure 'true-names'. While you do use nicknames, anyone can find out the machine name and user ID you are logged in from, with a /whois. Anytime you join or leave a channel, your full machine name and user ID is displayed to everyone, along with your nick. This is different from any (possibly pseudonymous) e-mail address you register for incoming mail. In #wares, people typically trade names of unauthorised FSP sites (such as the one in the LaMacchia case), which normally remain active for less than a few weeks. Though entry to IRC channels can be by invitation only, everyone knows everyone else's real (in the sense of machine and ID) identity. Not CP-friendly at all. It would be nice to have a #Cypherpunks channel, though... many of us don't mind revealing our identities to each other, and it could increase the frequency of interactive sessions greatly. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rishab Aiyer Ghosh "What is civilisation rishab@dxm.ernet.in but a ribonucleic Voicemail +91 11 3760335; Vox/Fax/Data 6853410 hangover?" H-34C Saket New Delhi 110017 INDIA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Mon, 25 Apr 1994 rishab@dxm.ernet.in wrote:
I've noticed some discussions of IRC (Internet Relay Chat), both as a possible model for CP interactions, as well as a location for implementations of BlackNet (in #wares, etc.)
Note that IRC, unlike MUDS, has been designed to ensure 'true-names'. While you do use nicknames, anyone can find out the machine name and user ID you are logged in from, with a /whois. Anytime you join or leave a channel, your full machine name and user ID is displayed to everyone, along with your nick. This is different from any (possibly pseudonymous) e-mail address you register for incoming mail.
Fraid not....it's a trivial matter to fake the username, and if yer a smart cookie, faking the hostname is just as easy.
In #wares, people typically trade names of unauthorised FSP sites (such as the one in the LaMacchia case), which normally remain active for less than a few weeks. Though entry to IRC channels can be by invitation only, everyone knows everyone else's real (in the sense of machine and ID) identity.
actually....the people on #warez (not -s, -z) just sit around and discuss how eLEeT!@#!@$! they are, then kick everyone off, hardly a revolutionary movement. *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* mcable@[jade,emerald,cs].tufts.edu \|/ wozz@wozz.ext.tufts.edu Matthew Cable <0-0> wozzeck@mindvox.phantom.com MTUC Jackson Labs ----o00-O-00o----- http://www.cs.tufts.edu/~mcable/ Tufts University GCS/MU -d+ -p+ c++++ l++ u++ e+ m++(*) s++ !n h+ f* g+ w++ t+ r- y+ *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*
With some experimentation, it is possible to have partially anonymous channels (all messges to/from the channel can appear as a singular name) but all inter-server messages must retain full identity which is a loss. Also, commands such as "/who #channel" and "/names #channel" currently return full info...and "/whois" will show you being on it...these can be changed, easily enough, but to have text traverse server-server with no id. would not work if you desired /kick and /mode. I'll work on fixing these three commands tonight. I might add, that this seriously screws with the most common (ircII) client and any others which keep their own private channel membership lists because the same person always enters and leaves >:-) Do cypherpunks believe this kind of anonymity is of any use ? av
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Darren Reed spake:
Do cypherpunks believe this kind of anonymity is of any use ?
I don't quite understand exactly what your server does, but there exists a server which provides anonymity by leeching off a standard server. For example, a user desiring anonymity would do: /server irc.caltech.edu and then /server anon.irc.host portnumber And if there is one of the anon servers running on that portnumber then the person appears on the irc completely identity-protected. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.3a iQCVAgUBLb06WXi7eNFdXppdAQH9yQP/cXDpLUqvSpz8r3+lGn+DVwzUvIFoDSCA /npnIlMDEvPtOlSe/k8KjJeBDjWUMiEmkKOY3yAY+ZUSeQ/3GnHSK8t9XMYui+FY txHVJ2+B54Rp+fX4uWNwzqjcCNbhUaksoiEb8QrFaDPczX1kq4s0vpVua/leDGg2 HTG8C9SfL8Y= =dLeo -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
Note that IRC, unlike MUDS, has been designed to ensure 'true-names'. While you do use nicknames, anyone can find out the machine name and user ID you are logged in from, with a /whois. Anytime you join or leave a channel, your full machine name and user ID is displayed to everyone, along with your nick. This is different from any (possibly pseudonymous) e-mail address you register for incoming mail.
Site name may be true, but there is no insurance that the user ID is right. IRC asks the client for the username at startup. It is possible to recompile IRC and have it search for a environment variable containing the user ID you wish to use (or put it on the command line if you like.) I have done this myself. _ . _ ___ _ . _ ===-|)/\\/|V|/\/\ (_)/_\|_|\_/(_)/_\|_| Stop by for an excursion into the-=== ===-|)||| | |\/\/ mud.crl.com 8888 (_) Virtual Bay Area! -===
participants (5)
-
Darren Reed -
Jeremy Cooper -
Matthew Cable -
rishab@dxm.ernet.in -
Sameer