<div dir="ltr"> Might Singapore be a good opportunity to launch this?<font face="yw-b3b03f93acb29dde874548d979c14638352bd06e-06528d10ba3f087b849cdd11fc0139a8--o" style></font><div><br></div><div><br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra">
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Jan 17, 2014 at 5:07 AM, Pranesh Prakash <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:pranesh@cis-india.org" target="_blank">pranesh@cis-india.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
Dear E-Team,<br>
This is a long mail. TL;DR: I've installed a new chat service on <a href="http://ncuc.org" target="_blank">ncuc.org</a> and would like us to test it out. Motivations and details below.<br>
<br>
I've just installed Prosody, an Jabber/XMPP client on the NCUC server, and I've<br>
<br>
* created test accounts for all of us,<br>
* with a shared roster (meaning there is no need to add me or the others to your friends list: we'll all be able to see each other by default),<br>
* and a few chatrooms (<a href="mailto:ncuc@chatroom.ncuc.org">ncuc@chatroom.ncuc.org</a>, <a href="mailto:ec@chatroom.ncuc.org">ec@chatroom.ncuc.org</a>, <a href="mailto:e-team@chatroom.ncuc.org">e-team@chatroom.ncuc.org</a> for now for testing purposes, with ec@ being members-only, while anyone can join the other two).<br>
<br>
I see some clear benefits over Skype, of which #1 & #2 add greatly to member convenience:<br>
1. These chatrooms can be accessed through the web, without installing any software. No NCUC member has to register to any external service to gain access to this. Nor does this require any special software to be installed on your browser like the ICANN's Adobe Connect service does.<br>
2. When an NCUC member signs on, she get to automatically see all other online NCUC members. One won't need to send out an email asking people for their Skype, Google Talk, etc. IDs, since every NCUC member will already be on this. Members don't need to individually add people to their friends lists as everyone will automatically show up on each others lists. (If X doesn't want Y to be able to see her online, she can block Y too.)<br>
3. XMPP supports both permanent and ad-hoc chatrooms, and not only ad-hoc ones as Skype, afaik, does.<br>
4. The chatroom conversations can be automatically logged by the server and published publicly on our website, if desired.<br>
5. XMPP is an open standard developed by the IETF, unlike the proprietary Skype network, and is decentralised and federated (like e-mail, and the WWW). For some this may not matter much, but I personally believe this matters a lot. (This also means that they can chat from an <a href="mailto:user@ncuc.org">user@ncuc.org</a> account with <a href="mailto:user2@gmail.com">user2@gmail.com</a> and <a href="mailto:user3@jabber.ccc.de">user3@jabber.ccc.de</a>, since there are a great many XMPP services that support federation.)<br>
<br>
Could we please test this? I've appended a list of all the current users to the end of this mail.[1]<br>
<br>
I don't foresee us requiring members to use this. Members will end up choosing whatever is most convenient. If internally in the E-Team we decide this is idiotic, all I have to do is "sudo apt-get purge prosody", and it's gone. If we feel it's a good idea, but it doesn't get any uptake from the larger group, we can decide to bury it or to keep it running since it costs nothing to keep it running. The only cost involved is that of an admin adding users to it when new members are added to NCUC.<br>
<br>
If we want to test this:<br>
<br>
## Login Details<br>
<br>
username : firstname.lastname (example: brenden.keurbis)<br>
domain : <a href="http://ncuc.org" target="_blank">ncuc.org</a><br>
password : $NCUC{firstname}$ (example: $NCUCbrenden$) (that's DollarSign+NCUC+lowercasefirstname+DollarSign)<br>
(Apologies to those with non-US layout keyboards: you can copy paste the sign it from this e-mail)<br>
<br>
Please change the password after logging in, using your client. This mail is going out to a public mailing list! (If we decide to roll this out to a larger set, we can automate randomized passwords that will be emailed out individually.)<br>
<br>
## Recommended Clients<br>
<br>
I will be setting up a web client next week, once I have a bit more time on my hands.<br>
<br>
If you're using Windows, I'd recommend either Pidgin or Gajim or Swift.<br>
If you're using a Mac, I'd recommend either Adium or Swift.<br>
If you're using Android I'd recommend one of these: Yaxim, ChatSecure, Xabber<br>
If you're using iOS, I'd recommend ChatSecure.<br>
<br>
## Chatrooms<br>
If you use Swift/Gajim as your client, the chatrooms will be auto-added.<br>
<br>
The E-Teams and NCUC chatrooms should automatically show up for all of us, while the EC chatroom should show up for Bill, Roy, Stefania, and me.<br>
<br>
Just as any NCUC member can join the E-Teams mailing list, any NCUC member can join the E-Teams chatroom. Thus Tapani, for instance, will be able to join <a href="mailto:e-team@chatroom.ncuc.org">e-team@chatroom.ncuc.org</a>, but won't be able to join <a href="mailto:ec@chatroom.ncuc.org">ec@chatroom.ncuc.org</a>.<br>
<br>
If you use Pidgin/Adium you'll need to join chatrooms manually.[1]<br>
<br>
Joining a chatroom is dead simple. In each client, there ought to be a simple menu item for joining a "chat" or "chatroom" or "MUC". The required fields:<br>
<br>
chatroom name : {ncuc,ec,e-team}<br>
chatroom server : <a href="http://chatroom.ncuc.org" target="_blank">chatroom.ncuc.org</a><br>
<br>
I've not enabled a password for any of the chatrooms, and don't see any need for them. Non-EC<br>
<br>
## Logging<br>
I've added logging so that all chatroom conversations are logged (private ones aren't). This is, in my opinion, an improvement over Skype, if we wish to have transparency of public chats. This can be disabled too.<br>
<br>
# TODO<br>
* Most importantly, for those who can't be arsed installing an XMPP client, I'll be adding a web client which people can use through their browser. There's a good chance that the chatroom client will end up being "Candy". See <a href="http://candy-chat.github.io/candy/" target="_blank">http://candy-chat.github.io/candy/</a> where you can try out a demo version.<br>
* At a later date, we have to decide whether to selectively display logs for specified chatrooms on our website.<br>
* Once the latest list of members (individuals not groups) is available, I can create more user accounts. This I would only want to do once the three of us have tested it through and then the E-Team has tested it out.<br>
* I've set the requirement of client-to-server encryption off for now till we sort out the certs.<br>
<br>
Cheers,<br>
Pranesh<br>
<br>
[1]: List of current users:<br>
<a href="mailto:brenden.keurbis@ncuc.org">brenden.keurbis@ncuc.org</a><br>
<a href="mailto:david.cake@ncuc.org">david.cake@ncuc.org</a><br>
<a href="mailto:joly.macfie@ncuc.org">joly.macfie@ncuc.org</a><br>
<a href="mailto:kim.pham@ncuc.org">kim.pham@ncuc.org</a><br>
<a href="mailto:pranesh.prakash@ncuc.org">pranesh.prakash@ncuc.org</a><br>
<a href="mailto:rafik.dammak@ncuc.org">rafik.dammak@ncuc.org</a><br>
<a href="mailto:roy.balleste@ncuc.org">roy.balleste@ncuc.org</a><br>
<a href="mailto:stefania.milan@ncuc.org">stefania.milan@ncuc.org</a><br>
<a href="mailto:tapani.tarvainen@ncuc.org">tapani.tarvainen@ncuc.org</a><br>
<a href="mailto:william.drake@ncuc.org">william.drake@ncuc.org</a><br>
<a href="mailto:wilson.abigaba@ncuc.org">wilson.abigaba@ncuc.org</a><br>
<br>
[2]: This depends on whether your client supports XEP-0048, which most do, but Pidgin doesn't, and Adium only supports using as a plugin which needs to be separately added.<br>
<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br>
--<br>
Pranesh Prakash<br>
Policy Director, Centre for Internet and Society<br>
T: <a href="tel:%2B91%2080%2040926283" value="+918040926283">+91 80 40926283</a> | W: <a href="http://cis-india.org" target="_blank">http://cis-india.org</a><br>
-------------------<br>
Access to Knowledge Fellow, Information Society Project, Yale Law School<br>
M: <a href="tel:%2B1%20520%20314%207147" value="+15203147147">+1 520 314 7147</a> | W: <a href="http://yaleisp.org" target="_blank">http://yaleisp.org</a><br>
PGP ID: 0x1D5C5F07 | Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/pranesh_prakash" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/pranesh_prakash</a><br>
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