[HacktionLab] instant messaging irc, pidgin, otr, xchat, wtf

[m3shrom]

Hi there,

I came to looking at the issue of instant messaging for the next version
of the tech tools for activism booklet and some info for the website

Now me and a lot of people i know either use xchat or if on windows mirc
for IRC

there are a lot of good channels out there on irc.freenode.net and
irc.indymedia.org

but there is no real up to date help on these clients and there is no
ONE cross platform irc client.

I just came across this page leading to a hands on guide on the tactical
tech security in a box toolset
https://security.ngoinabox.org/en/pidgin_main

It details pidgin and the use of off the record encryption
which all seems like a good idea, and as pidgin comes with most linux
installs and there is a version for windows, then maybe this is the way
to go when we are doing workshops.

I think we can easily show people how to set up IRC in pidgin - I can
try to get some help together for that.
However what about this OTR encryption stuff, I don't know much about
that apart from that a similar process may be used to send secure text
messages on android phones.

What is the best type account to sign up for to do this I wonder?

I know John C mentioned Jabber compatibility for the Gibberbot application

Any clues on a good process for this one?

nice one
mick