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Monthly Archives: May 2010

XChat 2.8.8 is available for download

Peter “zed” Železný, the author of the popular GPL’d XChat IRC client announced that a new version of it is available for download.

XChat 2.8.8 adds a whole host of bugfixes and stability improvements to the already pretty stable IRC client. Users of the freenode IRC network may find a particular bugfix that works around a problem with auto-joining keyed channels on ircd-seven interesting.

The default server list has been expanded with the addition of 4 new networks and the tray icon notifying of new messages, highlights and such has seen a refresh. Growl-style notifications can now be set to be shown for a certain length using the /set input_balloon_time option.

XChat 2.8.8 New icon & Growl-style notification

XChat 2.8.8 New icon & Growl-style notification

Writers of Perl scripts that use the client will find a large number of improvements and the changelog also cites “various text event changes” such as the addition of “Private Action”, “Private Action to Dialog” and “SSL Message” - for a complete list of all changes in this release take a look at zeds announcement on the XChat forums.

The full changelog, consisting of all commits, can be found here. The download as sourcecode can be obtained from here and there also are official .rpms for Fedora 13.

The official Windows build has not been updated yet – however the unofficial XChat-WDK already has a 2.8.8 binary release ready [Update: The official Windows builds are using an other code-base than this, see clarification from viktor below - thanks!].

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KDE IRC Client Konversation 1.3-beta1 released, adds DCC Whiteboard [Update]

The KDE IRC client Konversation released version 1.3-beta1 this weekend which brings many changes to the table compared to the last release, version 1.2.3.

With this new version, Konversation now depends on KDE 4.3 and Qt 4.5 and also has gotten a few “interface tweaks, new keyboard shortcuts and many bugfixes [to] round things out” according to the announcement on their homepage.

The most exciting new feature Konversation 1.3 brings to the table is called “DCC Whiteboard” which brings “collaborative drawing – think two-player Kolourpaint – to IRC”.

To get an idea how this is implemented and how it looks like, see the screenshot below:

Konversation DCC Whiteboard

Konversation DCC Whiteboard

But that’s not all – Konversation 1.3 brings back “KDE’s SSL certificate store the KDE 3 version enjoyed” and also expands the support for “auto-away to the Windows and Mac OS X platforms thanks to both recent advances in the KDE 4 platform and new code in Konversation”.

There’s also a roadmap of features to be added/completed until the 1.3 final release which amongst other things also cites “World domination” as one of their goals – i for one welcome my new drawing IRC overlords.

Konversation 1.3-beta1 is currently only available as sourcecode for download here.

[Update]: Konversation 1.3 final was released on 8th June. Changes from -beta1 to the final version include fixes to the build process with KDE 4.3 and a few others.

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William "nenolod" Pitcock quits DroneBL

William “nenolod” Pitcock, founder and long-time operator of the DroneBL DNSBL, announced via a posting on their mailinglist that he’ll discontinue his work on the service “due to time and emotional constraints” “effective immediately”.

DroneBL DNS Blacklist Logo

DroneBL DNS Blacklist Logo

The DNS Blacklist is one of the few that is especially meant to be used for IRC Networks.

He writes that coming to the decision to quit having an active role was not an easy process but he deems the project mature enough that the community “can steer it’s future development focus” and notes that he’ll continue to provide hosting for the blacklist until the community has made appropriate “alternative hosting arrangements”.

nenolod hands over the operations part of the service to Alexander “OUTsider” Maassen which he says that many already know. nenolod notes that he shouldn’t be contacted about issues considering DroneBL anymore as he’d be unable to help from now on.

Closing the announcement, nenolod writes that it is now time for him to “begin work on other endeavours”.

IRC-Junkie wishes nenolod all the best, whatever those future endeavours might be ;)

Oh and yes indeed, thanks for all the fish!

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ngIRCd 16 has been released

Alexander Barton of the ngIRCd project just announced on their mailing-list the immediate availability of version 16 of their IRC daemon.

After 1 month of testing and 2 release candidates, the final release is available to download and use.

The most notable changes since ngIRCd version 15 according to the announcement are various fixes to the build system and code cleanups, a new numeric (RPL_STATSCONN 250) that displays a few enhanced connection statistics to clients on connect and adding the missing documentation for the “Password” variable.

ngIRCd has gained WEBIRC support that is used for various Webchat-clients such as Mibbit and the limit that previously restricted the number of possible IRCOps has been removed.

Channelmode +z has been introduced as well – with that mode set only clients that are connected over a SSL-encrypted connection can join that channel, clients that already are present on that channel are not checked and therefore are allowed to stay – the same goes for clients joining from a remote server that does not support CMODE +z.

The download for ngIRCd 16 can be found here and the changelog is available here.

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New Zealand child porn channel op sentenced to over 4 years in jail

Daniel Jess Moore from Wellington, New Zealand was identified to be the operator and gatekeeper of an international network that was exchanging and distributing child porn via an IRC channel.

New Zealand Childporn Peddler: Daniel Jess Moore

New Zealand Childporn Peddler: Daniel Jess Moore

The channel reportedly had over 100 active participants which traded “many millions of child sex abuse pictures and movies exclusively between its members”. Moore, along with an unnamed US man, were considered the operators and gatekeepers of said channel, employing on- and offline cryptography to conceal their criminal operation.

The sting was possible due to a co-operation between agents of the US Secret Service and the New Zealand police as well as the Department of Internal Affairs who where monitoring the channel and its participants since October 2007 and finally cracking down on it and arresting Moore on the 6th May 2008.

In the investigation after the raid, officials have found more than “11000 images and movies” on his computers as well as over “16000 objectionable images” on an external harddrive. It took the investigators over 5 days, working in shifts, to get all the data off of the computers’ encrypted harddrives. To hinder officials accessing the data which was protected by a 40-character passphrase, Moore tried desperately to “kick his machine to take the power off” when he was held down and handcuffed.

Not only has Moore already been convicted in 2003 for “distribution and possession of objectionable images”, he also was arrested in January 2009 for following a woman on footpath and “secretly filming up her dress as she stood at traffic lights”.

Yesterday, 32-year old Daniel Moore was sentenced to 4 and a half years in jail, pleading guilty to 10 charges of distributing and 51 of possessing objectionable material plus one count of making an intimate visual recording. His US accomplice was sentenced to 18 years in jail which he currently serves.

Sources:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10641927&pnum=0

http://www.techday.co.nz/netguide/news/another-net-porn-distributor-jailed/16277/

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