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

New XBox Leaks Probably Serve to Confirm XBox's Collapse (Many More Layoffs)
It's very much consistent with what many other sites have reported lately
 
Links 10/10/2025: Honoring The Legacy Of Robert Murray-Smith, Many Articles on the Hey Hi (AI) Bubble
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: October Gothic and Reading Middle Earth Role Playing; C and Ada
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 09, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, October 09, 2025
Links 09/10/2025: Farewell to Jane Goodall, California Bans Algorithmic Price-Fixing
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: Lost Wages and a Saga Of Continuing To Use Palm PDAs
Links for the day
Richard Stallman's Talk in Helsinki is Done. Tomorrow Göteborg.
There are scarce details in Finnish about Dr. Stallman's talk
The Slop Song
The train wreck marches on
LLM Slop/Advanced Plagiarism Flooding the Zone With Capital That Does Not Exist
Many publishers out there still participate in this bubble instead of calling it what it is
Links 09/10/2025: Sacked Microsoft Workers Make "Sackbird", IBM Taps CockroachDB for PostgreSQL
Links for the day
"Happy Hacking Day" Richard Stallman Talk This Afternoon (From 14:00 to 16:00) at Haaga-Helia University in Pasila
Richard Stallman in Helsinki, Finland
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 08, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 08, 2025
Links 09/10/2025: Impact of Microsoft Layoffs, More Data Breaches
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: Autumn Blues and C IRC Bot
Links for the day
Slopwatch Appreciated by Real Authors of GNU/Linux Articles
We do try to keep on top of those things
Upgraded R.R.R.R.R.R. Today
The Web of 2025 is full of garbage, not limited to slopfarms
Freedom From Proprietary Prisons
Forking always an option
IBM's Watson Died in 1956, Now Watson Dies Again
IBM is becoming just a reseller of GAFAM and other stuff
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, UbuntuPIT, and Google News
We've also just noticed more slop from UbuntuPIT
Microsoft Says That Constant Mass Layoffs Are Success, the Media Isn't Buying This Microsoft Narrative Anymore
If people in the media feel an obligation to repeat whatever lies Microsoft tells, what point will there be to the media?
Links 08/10/2025: "Mali Puts Free Speech on Trial" And Apple Enforces Dictatorship
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: ‘Death to Spotify’ and Law to Ban Loud Commercials on Streaming (Dis)Services
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: Real Innovation and Nina.chat is Dead
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: Y2K38 Bug is a Vulnerability, Chat Control in Europe a Threat
Links for the day
Microsoft Windows is No Longer an Operating System, It's Surveillance Project
Why is this even legal to preload on PCs outside the US?
How and Why Once-Legitimate Sites Turn Into Slopfarms
Many sites will go offline and many social control networks will shut down once they realise or even openly admit they spend money and time gardening a bunch of bots and slop
UbuntuPIT Became a Slopfarm and Gnoppix Tarnishes Its Own Brand With Slop
It fits all the characteristics of mildly-edited (if at all) slop
Slopwatch: Linux Journal and Other Slopfarms
GAFAM needs to go the way of the dodo
Gemini Links 08/10/2025: "Seek Seek Revolution" and Gradient Backgrounds
Links for the day
Qualcomm Arduino Takes Aim at Raspberry Pi
Qualcomm is a Microsoft partner
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, October 07, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, October 07, 2025
Stagnation of the Economy and What Free Software Can (or Could) Do For It
If your economic model is based on a pyramid of lies, it won't last very long
Social Control Media is Sinking
it would rightly seem like the era of centralised "social" sites (they're not social, they're about controlling the users) is ending, not overnight but gradually