a network that abuses irc and is an embarrasment.

braindigitalis · Idler Joined: 22 Sep 2003 Posts: 443 Location: IRC

I would like to bring your attention to 'AtlantisIRC' which is hosting a channel which advocates public attacks on those who they think deserve ddos. Allow me to point you to the screenshot below containing the ip of the person they believe is a 'FAG'.

You can find this entry for yourself by searching searchirc (which is why i bring this to your attention, networks listing private information such as this should NOT be listed on searchirc, increasing the threat that the leak creates)

So, AtlantisIRC and 'gudhack', what do you have to say for yourselves? SearchIRC, what is your stance on things like this? It is my opinion that channels that list these sorts of things in their topics should not be included in the search index, and networks which are complacent to such things should possibly be delisted too.

Jason · Posted: Mar 08, 2008 11:13am Post subject:

I can tell you that we do not filter channel results. So whatever is available to us in /list is shown on this site.

I also cannot tell the channel owner to change their topic. I don't have control over what they post.

My question to you is why you think AtlantisIRC is responsible for what a channel has in it's topic? Most networks are not moderated.

It's too much for a large network to monitor and deal with each channel that might have an argument or dispute. But on the scale of SearchIRC, with virtually all networks being indexed, it becomes close to impossible.

braindigitalis · Idler Joined: 22 Sep 2003 Posts: 443 Location: IRC

So youre just happy to let a network list someones ip with a big 'please ddos me' sign on it?

Would you feel the same if someone was to post an IP address here on this forum?

The same applies.

Jason · Posted: Mar 08, 2008 12:00pm Post subject:

I'm interested in finding a solution, but at the same time if I close down any network that has in a channel a comment someone finds offensive, then I may as well shut down SearchIRC.

Additionally, channel topics can change at a moment's notice. And I do not have control over the networks or what text is in the channel topics.

Let's put it this way, lets say I wanted a network closed down. I simply go to one or more networks and post someone's phone number in the topic then report it here. What then?

katsklaw · Guru Joined: 28 Jun 2004 Posts: 1099

braindigitalis · Idler Joined: 22 Sep 2003 Posts: 443 Location: IRC

I believe individual channels can be delisted.

On a related note if a uk network did this to a uk user and ip addresses were hidden on the network and that user had previously connected to the network, this would be against the data protection act and the network owners could be in for a large fine. This is because in the uk at least, in this situation your ip address is classed as personally identifying information and would be treated the same as if they'd put your home address or phone number there.

katsklaw · Guru Joined: 28 Jun 2004 Posts: 1099

Jason · Posted: Mar 08, 2008 4:59pm Post subject:

To give you an idea how much data is processed, the original crawler used to download the channel list, and as it downloaded, it would parse it to break apart the channel name, topic, number of user, and then insert/update into the channel table.

As the number of networks increased, I found that the robots would start building up sendq and getting kicked offline because they weren't processing fast enough to keep up with the data the server sent.

So now all they do is pull and write all the data to a ramdisk. A process later breaks it apart and does one massive SQL update so that the index only has to be modified once.

The robots run on a dual cpu opteron server with 4 gigs of ram.

braindigitalis · Idler Joined: 22 Sep 2003 Posts: 443 Location: IRC

This isnt about the amount of data being processed. This is about people leaking personal data onto the internet, and networks such as this assisting in getting the data to a further audience. If someone emails google asking them to de-list illegal content (which this is, as its encouraging people to DDOS) then more often than not they comply, and i gaurantee their index is much larger than yours.

Jason · Posted: Mar 09, 2008 8:51am Post subject:

Your analogy is flawed. Google delists a webpage because the content is controlled by the website. Just like we can control what is posted here on the forum.

To your specific situation: IP addresses are part of how the internet works. There's nothing illegal about showing it. In fact, until fairly recently (in my mind) IPs were universally shown on IRC networks. Anytime you connect to a website, send an email, etc. Your IP is shown.

You might want to tell us how the person in question was able to grab your IP, since these days most networks allow you to hide your host.

BTW, SearchIRC runs from servers in my house. Therefor you know my home IP address.

RyanWenke · none Joined: 27 Dec 2006 Posts: 32

Jason - why can't you have a profile/user option where one can check off a filter on warez/illegal things etc. So anything that appears to be offensive/warez is caught by scrawl, and put into a "Can be filtered category". Meaning you don't delete the info from the site, but if a user in their profile has the filter checked, it wont show up for them. Hope that makes sense.

Jason · Posted: Mar 09, 2008 4:00pm Post subject:

In the context of this discussion, how would the crawler know if an IP address is offensive?

Furthermore, hiding an IP that you find offensive from yourself, doesn't hide it from others.

katsklaw · Guru Joined: 28 Jun 2004 Posts: 1099

If I may add, IP's are owned by service providers and not individuals. So no one's name should ever be specifically attached to it. You can't finger or any other query to an IP and get someones name, address and telephone number. At best you can use arin or geoip and get the providers name and/or city the IP is last routed to.

That said IP's in a way are part of public domain as it's not possible to be on the Internet without publicly broadcasting it.

As far as IP's not being hidden as Jason stated, most networks hide your IP, however only 1 or 2 of the Top 10 networks do this. So percentage wise, I'd wager that nearly half of the IRCer's out there have their IP's exposed for all to see.

Safer_Sephiroth · none Joined: 18 Nov 2004 Posts: 29

If someone is worried about their IP, it would be a good idea to call their ISP and get a new one saying that someone has done such a thing as posting the IP on a chat network and you don't want to be harassed because of it.

However, I can see why SearchIRC cannot do anything about a network that lets a channel do that. Most networks would not do such a thing and IRCops most of the time will not give out IPs to anyone. It's kind of a matter of trust when going to a network. If I were you, I'd just leave that network, call the ISP you have and get a new IP and avoid the place like the plague.

If you are that unhappy with it, go to the network page in 'Networks' and find the channel that did it and write a comment to warn people. I can see why you are angry but it's the Networks' problem and though on most IRC Networks I go on, that would earn anyone an akill, not all are like that. Good luck.