>>1537625>IRC is piss easy to use and doesn't run everything through a central server with unknown operators. I use one for our homeschool group.Unless you're talking about setting up your own server to use with friends or something like that, what you just said is completely wrong and actually the opposite of reality. Do you even know what IRC stands for? An IRC server is usually actually a network of servers that connect to each other and share the messages sent to the "server" (this is why sometimes you experience splits when one server disconnects from the network). You connect to a server from the network and send messages to it, like suppose you send a message to #4chan. The server you're connected to receives the message and passes it along to the other servers in the network* so everyone has a copy of the message. Everyone else who has joined the #4chan (regardless of what actual server they're connected to in the network) then receives notice that you just sent a message.
*There are however local only channels that require everyone in the channel to be connected to the exact same server, not just one of the servers from the network.
I'm sure in the years since I last used IRC (probably like 10 years) they've added some security functionality, like someone mentioned connecting through tor and the like. But IRC was always a very open and unsecure platform. Your security came from being careful yourself, like making sure you weren't showing your IP address or having a password protected channel. Still there is no reason why the server itself couldn't keep logs of everything sent to it. Text files are very easy to store.
