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NYT Discovers Internet's Wild Side: IRC

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the ok-corral dept.

maztec writes "The New York Times (free soul-sucking registration required) published an article today entitled The Internet's Wilder Side. Apparently, according to the article, 'the Internet has come to resemble a pleasant, well-policed suburb , [but] a little-known neighborhood known as Internet Relay Chat remains the Wild West.' In essence the article concerns itself with how IRC is the breeding ground of all the Internet's Evils, from animal pornography and illegal file sharing to virus making and computer cracking, it all starts here. I'd continue pointing out interesting quotes, but that'd be a waste. Go read it yourself. And if you're on IRC, remember, you're evil. Even if you're one of those do-gooders who uses Mozilla, LFS, or FreeNode servers for software development."

39 of 627 comments (clear)

  1. God forbid by Corbets · · Score: 5, Funny

    I can't wait to see what happens when they discover newsgroups. Man, their heads will pop. ;)

    1. Re:God forbid by JaffaKREE · · Score: 5, Funny

      I always suspected I was an evil, conniving, warez trading, mp3 album pre-releasing, movie theater recording and distributing bastard from the moment I typed /server irc.dal.net lo those many years ago. Now I know for sure. Time to go kill some puppies and take pictures and post them in #MurderedPuppies.

    2. Re:God forbid by Alexis+Brooke · · Score: 5, Funny

      This IRC thing sounds pretty bad. I can't wait for the New York Times to do a report on the 1995 documentary "Hackers".

      --
      This is a special excite .sig
      This
    3. Re:God forbid by pyros · · Score: 5, Funny

      First rule of Usenet: You do NOT talk about Usenet!!

    4. Re:God forbid by Three+Headed+Man · · Score: 3, Funny

      On'tday alktay aboutyay ethay ewsgroupsnay!

      --
      I'm probably at the karma cap. Mod up a funny troll instead, it lightens the mood :)
    5. Re:God forbid by Ykant · · Score: 5, Funny
      Next thing you know they're going to be finding UPS liable for shipping boxes of contraband information.

      Quiet, man - I need my cigars!

      --
      Spelling, grammar, punctuation? We need something that checks logic.
    6. Re:God forbid by AmoebafromSweden · · Score: 3, Funny

      >Time to go kill some puppies and take pictures >and post them in #MurderedPuppies.

      Great idea!

      I'll join you there!

    7. Re:God forbid by waveclaw · · Score: 3, Funny

      Police, FBI and other law enforcement agencies seize computer equipment *all the time*.
      [snip]
      The police who arrive at the office/your house/whatever know what computers look like, and might have one 'expert' with them, but they will never just take copies of your data, they will take whole machines, even whole networks.

      Hmmmm...

      If a computer has had kiddy porn on it, they typically destroy the computer.

      So, the key is to get a bunch of old, empty 486 boxen for a font job and build your cases out of non-computer like stuff. Funiture. Lamps. Microwaves.

      Cops come in a size everything 'computer like' while you hide the power cord running into your wi-fi enabled lay-z-boy.

      I guess Extreme Case modding can pay off.

      --

      "You cannot have a General Will unless you have shared experiences. You cannot be fair to people you don't know."
  2. Such a discovery! by Jaywalk · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wow. The New York Times has discovered IRC. What an amazing discovery. What are they going to discover next? Pennsylvania? I'd love to hear their hard-hitting expose about Pittsburgh.

    --
    ===== Murphy's Law is recursive. =====
    1. Re:Such a discovery! by TWX · · Score: 4, Funny

      "Wow. The New York Times has discovered IRC. What an amazing discovery. What are they going to discover next? Pennsylvania? I'd love to hear their hard-hitting expose about Pittsburgh."

      Wait'll they discover that IRC is twelve years old! I think that the protocol is older than most of the people that use it, at least on a mental level.

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    2. Re:Such a discovery! by gmuslera · · Score: 4, Funny
      Well, in the mid-90's there was a lot of hype (not sure if in the media) about a document that described how to build atomic bombs.

      Of course, that document started saying something like "go to your local grocery store and buy 3 kg of U-235" :)

    3. Re:Such a discovery! by gkwok · · Score: 3, Funny

      What about Pu-36? Oh goody! My illudium Pu-36 explosive space modulator!

    4. Re:Such a discovery! by PReDiToR · · Score: 4, Funny

      Well the article says

      Oh there's always one, isn't there? You had to show off that you Read TFA.

      --

      Do not meddle in the affairs of geeks for they are subtle and quick to anger
  3. How many years has IRC been running? by Black+Rabbit · · Score: 5, Funny

    Next thing you know, they'll be raving about the wonders of Archie, Veronica and Gopher!

    1. Re:How many years has IRC been running? by Black+Rabbit · · Score: 3, Funny

      Was there ever an Internet app called Big Ethel?

    2. Re:How many years has IRC been running? by jandrese · · Score: 4, Funny

      What? Without Gopher where am I supposed to find copies of wuftp for Windows 3.1 and news on the 1995 Nobel Prize winners?

      Actually, Gopher is great for looking back at what the internet looked like 8 years ago, when the last update was made to a Gopher site.

      --

      I read the internet for the articles.
  4. Thanks for the heads up... by jejones · · Score: 4, Funny

    I guess I need to work on a maniacal laugh or on holding my extended pinkie to the corner of my mouth. And there I thought I was just getting help with Gentoo and Fedora Core 2 Test 3...

    1. Re:Thanks for the heads up... by prat393 · · Score: 3, Funny
      And there I thought I was just getting help with Gentoo and Fedora Core 2 Test 3...
      You're mixing them? Diabolical!
  5. Thank god... by Lugor · · Score: 4, Funny

    ..they haven't found bash.org yet!

  6. Well policed suburbs? by Roadkills-R-Us · · Score: 5, Funny

    Obviously, they're refering to usenet. I mean, I haven't seen a fatal shooting there in quite some time.

  7. Darn! Now average joe will use it and ruin it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Time to go back to BBS for all the evil stuff.

  8. /list by Himring · · Score: 5, Funny

    IRC is the breeding ground of all the Internet's Evils

    It was in 1996 that I developed my eye twitch. That was just after having read /list for the first time on efnet....

    --
    "All great things are simple & expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope." --Churchill
  9. If they think IRC is bad by Tebriel · · Score: 5, Funny

    they should see Ebay. There's some weird shit for sale there....

    --
    The Blaster Master Fighting for Truth, Justice, and Evil Pie since 1979
  10. Just saw a discussion in #hackers... by jez9999 · · Score: 5, Funny

    The NYT has an article on us being 'evil'! Just saw it on Slashdot, go see it :-P
    <creat1ve> What?
    <creat1ve> Damn.. they suck!!
    <creative> hack-bot, DDOS nytimes.com
    <hack-bot> Initializing DDOS

    ...

    <l1ght> Haha, nytimes.com down :-) That'll teach them to badmouth irc, thank god for that Slammer virus that let us build up those zombies!

    --
    == Jez ==
    Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.
    1. Re:Just saw a discussion in #hackers... by HeghmoH · · Score: 5, Funny

      That is such an obvious fake. If you're going to post made-up IRC discussions, you should at least use proper IRC grammar, such as no capital letters, missing or incorrect punctuation, etc. You're not even trying to be believable!

      --
      Mod down posts with a "Free Mac Mini/iPod" sig, they're spam!
    2. Re:Just saw a discussion in #hackers... by halo8 · · Score: 4, Funny

      +h3 ny+ h@z @N @r+ic13 0N u$ b3iNg '3vi1'! ju$+ $@\/\/ i+ 0N $1@$hd0+, g0 $33 i+ :-P
      \/\/h@+?
      d@MN.. +h3y $ux0r!!
      h@x0r-b0+, dd0$ ny+iM3$.c0M
      iNi+i@1iziNg dd0$ ...

      h@h@, ny+iM3$.c0M d0\/\/N :-) +h@+'11 +3@ch +h3M +0 b@dM0u+h irc, +h@N/ g0d ph0r +h@+ $1@Mm3r viru$ +h@+ 13+ u$ bui1d uP +h0$3 z0Mbi3$!

      --
      The More Knowledge you have the Luckier you Get- J.R. Ewing
    3. Re:Just saw a discussion in #hackers... by Nobody+You+Know · · Score: 5, Funny

      And the damndest thing is, that compiles under Perl...

  11. Animal Porno? by toupsie · · Score: 3, Funny

    You mean the Discovery channel distributes on IRC? How many times have I seen two Rhinos doing the nasty with some British snooty guy narrating on PBS? Please, NY Times. This is nothing new. Heck, I even got a shot of flies getting busy on my balcony. You would think these New York City folk wouldn't be such prudes.

    --
    Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
  12. Bwhahahahaha by Lord+Graga · · Score: 3, Funny

    "I.R.C. is where you are going to find your 'elite' level pirates,'' said John R. Wolfe, director for enforcement at the Business Software Alliance, a trade group that fights software piracy."

    rofl,im1337h4xx0r!iwill0wnj00rb0x0r!

  13. Re:seems odd by Glonoinha · · Score: 5, Funny

    That depends. We talking animals with other animals, or animals with people? The former you can find on the Discovery Channel; the latter, not so much.

    --
    Glonoinha the MebiByte Slayer
  14. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 3, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  15. Re:IRC isn't the cause... by mrtroy · · Score: 4, Funny

    I believe the article proves you are incorrect. IRC is not just a medium, apparently.
    Yet that pirated copy of Microsoft Office or Norton Utilities that turns up on a home-burned CD-ROM may well have originated on I.R.C.
    Pirated software can originate from IRC itself (not the clients or the servers)
    The whole idea behind I.R.C. is freedom of speech. There is really no structure on the Internet for policing I.R.C., and there are intentionally no rules. Obviously you're not allowed to hack the Pentagon, but there are no rules like 'You can't say this' or 'You can't do that.'
    You can hack the pentagon from IRC, you just arent supposed to.

    --
    [I can picture a world without war, without hate. I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it]
  16. Re:Well, of course it's wild. by Mdalek · · Score: 3, Funny


    errm....because we're all dying to know.

  17. Re:Lol by Orgazmus · · Score: 5, Funny

    and "moderator" dont help

    its called #channels and operators.
    n00b

    --
    The system had the verbosity of HTML combined with all the readability of compiled assembly viewed as bitmap images
  18. Two Comments by Kozar_The_Malignant · · Score: 3, Funny

    >And if you're on IRC, remember, you're evil.

    First, that's Doctor Evil to you.

    Second, one wonders what sort of fit the NYT would have if someone ever tells them about Usenet.
    --
    Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
  19. Wait till they find all the pr0n by bl8n8r · · Score: 4, Funny

    The soccer moms are going to freak out.

    --
    boycott slashdot February 10th - 17th check out: altSlashdot.org
  20. Need proof? by Rorschach1 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Don't believe IRC is evil? Just try logging on with an even remotely female-sounding nick sometime.

  21. heh by EMH_Mark3 · · Score: 3, Funny

    We're all doomed if they discover bash.org :)

    --
    Burn the land and boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me
  22. The real IRC! by NeGz · · Score: 3, Funny

    A little long, oh well, you can't be banned from Slashdot? Right? Right..? :/

    00:57 (NeGz) god I hate media FUD like that NY Times article on IRC
    00:57 (NeGz) just saw it then
    00:57 (@Yavin) yer its crazy
    00:58 (@Yavin) "this just in, there is a secret BBS on the intarweb!!!!"
    00:58 (@Yavin) "crossing LIVE to Trishia Takinawa, with a report on the hotline protocol!"
    00:59 (@Yavin) wtlw NYT!
    00:59 @Yavin gets all angry
    00:59 (@Devar) lol Yavin
    00:59 (@Nevyn^) what _are_ you on about
    00:59 (NeGz) but you read this shit and you understand why some people will never bank over the net and such :/
    01:00 (@Yavin) this Nevyn^: http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/05/06/132523 1
    01:00 (NeGz) http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/06/technology/circu its/06chat.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5062&en=a1bb0d2c7d 187e80&ex=1084420800&partner=GOOGLE
    01:00 @Yavin moderates NeGz -1, Redundant
    01:00 (NeGz) sif
    01:00 (NeGz) direct link to article
    01:00 (NeGz) +5 Informative, every time
    01:00 (@Yavin) hehe
    01:01 (NeGz) rah
    01:02 (NeGz) need an educational campaign
    01:02 (NeGz) GAMFUD - Geeks Against Media Fear, Uncertanity and Doubt -_-
    01:02 (@Yavin) or we could hire a bus, deck it out in wifi and tour the countryside. paint "The Clue Bus" on it and inform people on why tech isnt evil
    01:03 (@Yavin) or we could idle on irc and bitch about stuff
    01:03 (NeGz) have the headline of gamfud.org as PEBKAC
    01:03 (NeGz) yeah, idling sounds good
    01:03 (NeGz) also sleep
    01:03 (@Yavin) give articles such as that NYT piece the bigg rubber stamp of FAILURE
    01:04 (NeGz) I'm amazed that there are guys in my network security classes at Tafe that won't bank over the net :/
    01:04 (Ultima84) I bank over the net...
    01:04 (@Devar) rofl, they wont? man i fucking do everything over the net hey
    01:04 (@Yavin) haha yeah
    01:04 (NeGz) all you need is enough knowhow to check that you're not being phished/DNS spoofed and that the damn site's SSL cert is legit/secure :/
    01:04 (@Devar) i even applied for an E*TRADE account on the net >_
    01:05 (NeGz) I don't like shopping elsewhere -_-
    01:05 (@Devar) mind you i dont have the $1000 minimum to actually OPEN it
    01:05 (@Devar) but who cares :D
    01:05 (Ultima84) I bought crap off eBay :|
    01:05 (NeGz) I've got no car, so going places that aren't on the train line is TME
    01:05 (@Devar) hehe NeGz yeah
    01:06 (NeGz) should post this convo to slashdot -_-
    01:06 (@Yavin) +5 insightful
    01:07 (@Devar) haha NeGz go for it, edit it correctly and it'd probably be modded up since its in context LOL
    01:08 (NeGz) bags the karma :P