Summary of decision taken

On 26th December 2007, the IRC Council decided to allow 'IRSeek' to publically log certain Ubuntu channels.

• This initial permission extends only to channels satisfying the following conditions:
  1. Channel has 'ubuntuirccouncil' as contact with chanserv.
  2. Channel is already logged at irclogs.ubuntu.com by 'ubuntulog'
• The IRSeek bot must also satisfy the freenode guidelines, mainly it should not be torified and should be easily identifiable by nickname.

The actual announcement is here.

Factors taken into account in making the decision

For IRSeek logging

• IRSeek claim their interface allows easier searching of logs for useful information, and allows easy hilighting to follow past conversations.
• A centralised irc logs search engine, providing answers on many subjects in one place may have some merit, rather than a user needing to know many log sites.
• The channels that IRSeek logs are already logged publically at irclogs.ubuntu.com
  • As far as we are aware, there is nothing to stop IRSeek parsing those logs to reproduce as their own If they were not granted permission to log directly using their own bots. Is it perhaps petty to force this?
• IRSeek logging, and publishing logs is not detrimental to any current operations in Ubuntu.

Against IRSeek logging

• IRSeek has used questionable methods in the past to log channels without permission.

• The motives for a company to wanting to hold and publish logs are unclear & raise concerns for some, who would appreciate clarification.