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Analysis of Linux Backdoor Used In Freenode Hack
An anonymous reader writes "A detailed analysis has been done of the Linux backdoor used in the freenode hack. It employed port knocking and encryption to provide security against others using it. This seems a little more sophisticated than your average black-hat hacker.
I punched one #physics op's buttons so hard, he still bans me on sight in #physics. Even though I trolled him in #philosophy, a channel in which he didn't have ops. This is the calibre of the discourse on freenode's #physics and other channels with academic disciplines for their titles: ops ban based on whims. It's stupid and it reduces the knowledge content of the chat.
If you troll #philosophy, why would you be expected to behave any better in #physics? You are the same person in both channels. I dont see the problem here, really.
All moderated channels. There used to be a channel that aksis owned, several years ago, that had a policy of no kicks/bans. It was a great libertarian experiment in absolute freedom of speech. It was the best channel ever. We fought our battles on a level playing field, with our words (or our bots!).
There was another channel, ##politics, which was moderated like all the other channels on !freenode. You had a choice: you could go to #politics for absolute freedom of speech, or ##politics for same old same old. #politics was by far the more popular, because it was fun. Freedom is a heady feeling.
But freenode got scared of the fun we were having in that channel. The little old ladies that run freenode shut it down, made it like all the other channels.
Freenode is not 4chan. Expecting freenode to be like 4chan is a foolish. If you are in a channel in freenode, you must comply with both channel rules and network rules. Freenode will not hesitate to enforce their network rules in channels if the channel ops are not enforcing them.