Bonum Certa Men Certa

Freedom First: Towards Self-Hosting and Federating/Communicating Across IRC Networks

Video download link



Summary: We've been technically experimenting and laying the groundwork for project communications more self-hosting and truly self-governing rather than outsourced to outside parties; the key thing is, how do we make it integrate with large networks or other networks where most people are (the 'network effect')? These technical endeavours are ongoing.

THE aspects of Free Speech or Free Will or self determination etc. aren't typically spoken about in the context of technology but of military, territorial sovereignty (e.g. what if this nation invaded us or that other nation annexed a part of us?). In the case of technology, what's to be done when a service you rely on (e.g. clown computing) decides to change policies, shut down, start charging, increase fees etc. and you have no say on the matter?



"We'd rather focus on issues such as patents instead of IRC 'drama'."Self-hosting isn't easy, but it gives one autonomy and control. Here in Techrights we explored and researched what it would involve self-hosting an IRC network and channels. We did this last year, well before any actual controversy.

Owls chattingAs the video above explains, we're in the process of offering more options, one of which is self-hosted. We're not leaving anything, we just add an option which is one we control. At the moment, based on our understanding, promising work is also being done to make networks interact and work together. That can help prevent or overcome some of the current conflicts, which distract technical projects from the things they really ought to focus on (mostly coding).

We've tried to abstain from getting involved in all those IRC wars (in effect a form of infighting, distracting us from real growth opportunities, such as crushing proprietary copycats of IRC). From now on we'll try to advocate projects and sites taking control of their communications rather outsourcing them to outside (competing) groups. This is all doable given the declining cost (and increasing power) of hardware, as well as improved network capacities all around the world.

As the video above notes, it should now be possible to communicate with us more securely in real time, with a potential of whispering about EPO tyrants like António Campinos. On Friday we made a giant leap towards abolishing European software patents. We'd rather focus on issues such as patents instead of IRC 'drama'. Let's revolutionise rather than destory one another.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Topics We Lacked Time to Cover
Due to a Microsoft event (an annual malware fest for lobbying and marketing purposes) there was also a lot of Microsoft propaganda
 
Links 23/11/2024: Celebrating Proprietary Bluesky (False Choice, Same Issues) and Software Patents Squashed
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, November 22, 2024
IRC logs for Friday, November 22, 2024
Gemini Links 23/11/2024: 150 Day Streak in Duolingo and ICBMs
Links for the day
Links 22/11/2024: Dynamic Pricing Practice and Monopoly Abuses
Links for the day
Microsofters Try to Defund the Free Software Foundation (by Attacking Its Founder This Week) and They Tell People to Instead Give Money to Microsoft Front Groups
Microsoft people try to outspend their critics and harass them
[Meme] EPO for the Kids' Future (or Lack of It)
Patents can last two decades and grow with (or catch up with) the kids
EPO Education: Workers Resort to Legal Actions (Many Cases) Against the Administration
At the moment the casualties of EPO corruption include the EPO's own staff
Gemini Links 22/11/2024: ChromeOS, Search Engines, Regular Expressions
Links for the day
This Month is the 11th Month of This Year With Mass Layoffs at Microsoft (So Far It's Happening Every Month This Year, More Announced Hours Ago)
Now they even admit it
Links 22/11/2024: Software Patents Squashed, Russia Starts Using ICBMs
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, November 21, 2024
IRC logs for Thursday, November 21, 2024
Gemini Links 21/11/2024: Alphabetising 400 Books and Giving the Internet up
Links for the day
Links 21/11/2024: TikTok Fighting Bans, Bluesky Failing Users
Links for the day
Links 21/11/2024: SpaceX Repeatedly Failing (Taxpayers Fund Failure), Russian Disinformation Spreading
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Earned Two More Honorary Doctorates Last Month
Two more doctorate degrees
KillerStartups.com is an LLM Spam Site That Sometimes Covers 'Linux' (Spams the Term)
It only serves to distract from real articles
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, November 20, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, November 20, 2024