IRC is of course as legal as free speech, it is just a distributed Chat Network.
To find out more about IRC, checkout WikiPedia
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat
You shouldn't think about what you write, because its not like a private chat, it's more like a public forum.
People from Law Enforcement or Press agencies could be in the channel, and log all the messages and could use them against you.
You can log too if you like and you shouldn't be scared about that, but it should always be in your Mind before you write something stupid.
There might be disturbing, frankly, hateful and other unwanted people in the Chat, generally known as Trolls.
Don't feed them with your words, just ignore them.
* Don't build your opinion about Anonymous based on Trolls, everyone is allowed to be Anonymous *
* Anonymous can only be as good as YOU make them *
For Windows you can use XChat-WDK (GPL 2 and CC-BY-SA) https://code.google.com/p/xchat-wdk/wiki/InfoXChat
You should do a portable install
https://code.google.com/p/xchat-wdk/wiki/InfoPortable
Change the path either to a USB-Pendrive or your Homefolder
Check the "Portable Install" Option
For Linux XChat is already included in the most distributions and can be installed with a simple $ sudo apt-get install xchat (debian/ubuntu)
For Mac OSX XChat Aqua is available http://xchataqua.sourceforge.net/ Sorry, no additional Infos
To create a new connection to the server
Click add in the Network List and add the network with the following Server
Uncheck "Use global user Information" first, else it resets some settings
Add the Server
irc.anonops.in/6697
irc.anonops.ru/6697
Check that the Port number is 6697 Check the "Use SSL for all the Servers on this Network" Check the "Accept invalid SSL Certificate" to accept self signed Certificates and not only commercial Certificates
Find a Nickname - that should not be related to your real name
if you prefer doing it manual, you can open a blank Server Tab and type
/nick anontutorial
/server -ssl irc.anonops.in 6697
Now you are connected to one of the IRC Servers but still not in a channel to talk.
Next you want to make sure that only you are able to use that nick and nobody can talk in your name.
Before you can register you need to be at least 90 seconds on the Server using this nick, before the Server accepts your registration.
The procedure is really simple, just choose a good password and enter the following command with a fake and not existing E-Mail.
/msg nickserv register secureanonpassword anon@anon.at
Now you have to add your secure password to the Server settings.
By default your IP-address is already not shown in clear text (cloaked), but your providers DNS name is visible.
We don't want that information to be made public, so we register for a vhost. That means that the string that looks something like this
anontutorial [anontutorial@ty-F6F6B323.provider.net] has joined #opnewblood
Will change to something random you choose after do the following:
the host part after the @ don't have to be valid hostname
/join #vhost
!vhost tutorial@another.anon.tld
If succesful, you should be banned now from the channel and can't join again for the next 6 hours.
Disconnect and then reconnect to the Server to activate the settings.
anontutorial [tutorial@another.anon.tld] has joined #opnewblood
This privacy setting is only for the public usage of the chat, Server admins can still see your real IP
Now you are ready to join some channels, you can either just type /join #channelname (for example: /join #opnewblood )
or you can use the Channel List under the Server Menu
click the "Download List" Button first
if you right click the channels you can add them to your favourites, which means they will open up automatically when you connect next time.
Show the channel Topic
/topic
shows the topic to you
!topic
shows the topic for everyone on the channel
see who is on a channel without joining that channel
/names #opemmaa
send a direct message to a user
/msg otheruser This is the message
open a private chat with a user
/query otheruser
write an action message
/me wants a big trout
* anontutorial wants a big trout
change your Nick
/nick anontutorial|zZz
*** anontutorial is now known as anontutorial|zZz
mark you as away
/away This is my away message
without an away message it marks you being back
Ignore trolls and frankly people
/ignore FBITroll
*** Added *!*FBITroll@*.dialup.comcast.net to ignore list
Unignore a previously ignored user
/ignore -r nickname
*** Removed *!*FBITroll@*.dialup.comcast.net to ignore list
Leave the current or all channels you are in
/part
/partall
Quit the Chat with a message
/quit cops want my stuff for illegal chatting
List all Chat servers connected
/map
Sometimes the operators of a channel change the mode of a channel.
+m - The Channel is moderated - only people with mode +v (Voice) and above can talk +i - The Channel is invite only - people only can join if they are invited +v - You have Voice and can talk in moderated Channels
There are some nicks which are actually scripts, that provide extra Services but sometimes could also annoy you. Some of the extra features they might provide
The time a nick was last seen and on which channel
seen nickname
Some channels provide a !check command to see if a site is up
!check www.anonops.ru
* anontutorial: Its just you: www.anonops.ru is up
Getting Kicked
Flooding (more then 5 messages in 5 seconds) or shouting "IN ALL CAPS", will lead to you being kick of the channel
The infamous #kill channel
Don't join that channel, even if someone say it. It will only kick/ban you
Z-Lined
A Z-Line is a ban on your IP-Address, mostly its because your IP is listed as a Tor Exit node (either you are running an Exit node on your IP or you are using the Tor Network).
The Tor Network is banned because Spammers could use it to flood the Channels with messages and make the hole channel unreadable. As they can change there IP's through all Exit-Nodes, this would lead to the same result.
Netsplit
Sometimes you notice that your nick don't get registered or that a lot of Users leave the Channel for no reason. That is a so called Netsplit, best described as that the distributed Servers of that Network no longer can communicate with each other and appears as separated Chat Networks.
Netsplits could be dangerous because the Services that register your nick can be compromised and people you think you know could be someone else.
DefCon
sometimes Global announces DefCon levels on the Network, which means the Servers are under attack
Delete your nick
If you want to delete your registered nick from the Server type
/msg nickserv drop
http://portable-i2p.blogspot.com/
