Welcome to AnonOps

AnonOps IRC is an international communication platform frequented by activists, nerds, trolls and those who wish to otherwise remain Anonymous. Our website is currently under review and renovation, any suggestions then feel free to join #website and tell us all about your great idea. You can connect via webchat. Using webchat is simple and you don't need to set up a client. The bad news is - you're going to have to level up to a big-kid setup and install your own IRC client if you don't want to be forever denied chocolate milk. Check out our NewBlood Section for guides and suggestions and just ask us in #opnewblood Have questions or need connection help? Try FAQ or Tutorials for more information. If this is all too much for you, take a deep breath and contact our Network Staff by email.

IRCd Major Upgrade - 2020-04-03

We will be upgrading our IRCds from a version that is going end of support, to a newer supported version starting at 0500 UTC on Friday, April 3rd. We expect there to be up to a two hour period where our IRC network will not be accessible. Once the upgrade is finished we expect there to be minimal user facing changes, if any.

IRCd Services Major Upgrade - 2020-02-09

We will be upgrading our IRCd services from an old (but stable!) Anope version to a newer supported version starting at 0300 UTC on Thursday February 13th. We expect there to be a period of up to an hour where services are unavailable. During the upgrade all nicks and channels should be migrated to the newer services database, so no re-registration is required. We don't plan on introducing any new features immediately, but there are some minor changes in command syntax (such as channel registrations no longer requiring passwords). Additionally we expect that the automated #vhost channel will be unavailable for some time while we write our own bot to provide the functionality, as the new services package does not provide a reputable #vhost channel module.

Remembering the Sacrifices - 2019-07-16

It's hard to imagine that it's been four years since we lost you. Perhaps the even harder thing is to think about the long remaining path ahead that we have to continue on without you. This path isn't the easiest one to walk, but still many people travel it thinking they can make a difference in this world. Maybe they can, maybe they have already, maybe they won't. You believed in letting people try, and that hasn't changed in our mission, even if so much else has in the world around us.

Not a lot of people really know what you sacrificed, especially as the sickness took more of a terrible hold on you. The long nights, the continuous fights trying to find viable hosting, operators, or ideas how to keep this place running took a toll on you and others in the small team we had. Even less knew the personal struggles going on behind the scenes. The government picked a group of people to try and make an example out of and did their best to waste taxpayer money in a frivolous legal battle that took far too long to arrive at the wrong conclusion. To this day I am still baffled by the unfathomably poor case produced by the prosecution to get convictions, but I guess this is on par with a lot of other cases that go through American legal system. No qualified systems or network engineer would have ever been able to present actual evidence of damage from you, or others like you. The grand jury was easily lead though, and witnesses with no real qualifications (or conscience for that matter) are found/bought.

You were a mentor to many, always able to offer advice. You were a friend to some, one that can never be replaced. You were one of the very few who were willing to sacrifice so much to try and let others have a better life. You were an inspiration to many, the outpouring of support proved this. You were so, so much more, too. I won't pretend you were perfect, people who say that just because someone has passed on do a disservice to the individual. A universally liked person probably has no opinions of their own, and I'm glad you weren't one of these people.

Another 40 years from now and you'll still be missed, and there still won't be enough words written to express the loss felt.

TLS/SSL Hardening

Beginning on Wednesday January 11th 2017 we will be enforcing some stricter standards over TLS/SSL access to our network. You will only be able to negotiate TLS versions 1.2. This means that people who have been ignoring our warnings about using xchat to connect to our network will no longer be able to access our service, as it can only negotiate SSLv3. Anyone using a modern client should have no issues with these changes. Beyond enforcing a minimum TLS version we are also going to force the use of specific ciphersuites that are generally considered to be safe. No longer will we rely on the client's choice of ciphersuites, we will prefer server side settings.

You should check what cipher and TLS version you are connected with, most clients display this on connect. Also note that inspircd prints this information to you as well, for example: *** You are connected using SSL cipher "DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA".

Here's To Our Beloved owen

No doubt you were expecting an outpouring of grief before this message. Quite frankly, I wish I could but there are no words to express how much we're grieving and how much of a loss this is to the cause. For those that can still express themselves then please send messages of support and more importantly stories about how much owen touched your life. All we can do is keep up the good fight that he started and try to keep his dreams alive. http://www.forevermissed.com/dennis-owen-collins/ Yes, I'm afraid you do have to register to post but real details are optional. ;) Requiescat In Pace owen, forever you'll be in our hearts.

Removal of Plaintext IRC Access

By the end of this week (Saturday, June 13th) we will have disabled access to our IRC network via plaintext. This means that if you want to connect to our network you must be using TLS on port 6697. The reason for this change is simple: TLS is something everybody should be using. Virtually every modern IRC client supports TLS, this includes mobile clients too. All clients (including authorized user bots) must be configured to use TLS or you won't be able to connect. To verify if you are using TLS check that you are connecting to port 6697 in your client, or if you are currently connected whois yourself and look for " is using a secure connection".

Cipher Updates

We have prioritized the cipher list accepted by our servers to ensure higher order ciphers are negotiated first if possible. We have disallowed RC4, MD5, etc. On connecting to the IRC, the server notice window will show you the cipher your client has negotiated with our server. An example would be: *** You are connected using SSL cipher "DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384. In the end, its YOUR client that determines the cipher used so every user should verify they are using a strong one. More information can be found on our security page under the TLS section.
We have also disabled the CTCP function for all users due to abuse. The proper mode will be set on all users connecting to our network.

TLS Updates - IRCds

Starting at 2AM GMT on Thursday Feb 19th we will be upgrading the TLS libraries in our IRCds, we will also be generating new certificates and private keys. Once this upgrade is done all servers will have TLS 1.2 available and over time we will tweak the cipher priorities to stay up to date with the strongest options available. This upgrade is meant to offer users better privacy when using TLS assuming their client negotiates a strong cipher. We will be using only 4096 bit RSA keys, and certificates with SHA256 hashing after this upgrade. If you verify our certificate fingerprints note that these will change, we will tweet out the new certificate fingerprints after the upgrades are complete.

TLS Updates - Web Resources

Due to recent revelations leaked from a three letter agency we have taken some steps to improve security of the TLS in use on our web resources. While all of our web resources are behind a CDN called Cloudflare we still want the origin/back end connections to be cryptographically strong. For this reason we have done the following: changed all keys to RSA 4096 bit, deprecated SHA1 and changed certificates to SHA256 and prioritized strong ciphers such as ECDH. Stay tuned for more information on TLS updates to our IRCd infrastructure.

IRCv3

Recently we enabled limited IRCv3 support on our servers. IRCv3 is an attempt to modernize the IRC protocol and make it more efficient. We currently support the away-notify extension and we will look at enabling other extensions in the future. In order to take advantage of these extensions your client needs to support them. Check out ircv3.org for more info.

New Webchat and Other Helpful Things

Webchat users are already aware but for the rest of you this is news. Last week we switched to a different webchat interface. This one is much nicer, more user friendly and has some new features unavailable in the old qweb interface. Check it out by clicking the webchat button in the nav menu. We have also been busy adding some new tutorials for the newblood site. We have added one for irssi, one for virtual machines and have made significant additions to the android page to accomodate the increasing number of droid users. We hope you like them. Translations of these new pages are in progress and should be available shortly. On the less visible technical side, we have upgraded some things in the backend and in the load balancing to improve connectivity and uptime. Upgrades to the radio are also underway. As we do not wish to take down the service entirely, expect a few bugs as this happens. Be patient. The end result is what matters, after all.

The Heartbleed Bug and Other Nasty Stuff

Unless you have been living under a rock or just recently emerged from the basement, you have heard about this bug. Make no mistake, it is very dangerous. Much is still unknown at this point but what info is available needs to be dealt with and fast. A lot of information has come out so start checking this info against your systems. Figure out what is vuln and fix it. For us, Cloudflare handled the public facing side of our web services. The backend had updated SSL installed immediately. Necessary changes were made to nginx, certs revoked and reissued. The IRCd servers use GnuTLS. They were not vulnerable but we updated them anyhow. We did our part. Now you do yours. You need updated OpenVPN clients, IRC clients, etc. Update your own servers. Any application that uses the affected OpenSSL libraries needs to be updated or disabled until updates become available.

Hypocrisy At It's Finest

I don't think there is any way to describe this other than the few words in the title. For a while now we have watched our governments prosecute Anonymous individuals for conducting DDoS attacks, but it seems another group should be facing charges too. We are referring to the government. Full story here. We are appalled by this revelation that a government would prosecute their citizens for a crime but commit the same crime themselves only to go unpunished. Edward Snowden is a brave individual fighting for what he believes in and words cannot express how thankful we are for what he has done. We can only hope that this leak helps to aid those who have been so wrongly prosecuted in their legal battles.

Remembering Aaron

A year ago, the online community learned of a terrible tragedy. Aaron Swartz, hounded by the US goverment and threatened with decades behind bars, took his own life. Our sympathies go out to his family and friends during this emotional and difficult time. He contributed his time and intelligence to create a more open place, to connect more people together and further allow the free flow of information to those who seek to learn. Information should not be a commodity, packaged and sold only to those who can afford to do so by greedy corporations or hidden away from the people by governements who spend our money to spy on us. As the anniversary of his death passes, we ask that you join us in taking a stand.
February 11, 2014 is the day we fight back. We must all speak out against the obliteraton of our privacy by governments everywhere and to stop the persecution of activists by vindictive governments.
It is time we are heard.

Network Rules

You are free to discuss whatever you want on our network.
We do not control what our users discuss as long as they adhere to these simple network rules.