We can however refuse to help them on this forum and in #mIRC to use it for something illegal/harmful.
I'd put it a little stronger - replace "can" with "must".
Helping someone to use mIRC for something illegal means becoming a party to the crime - an accomplice. No-one has a right to demand or expect that anyone else becomes an accomplice to a criminal act.
If someone wishes to break the law, that's their business. If they flaunt the fact in public on message fora, that's their business. If we provide info on HOW to break the law, that becomes our business.
This is nothing to do with whether file-swapping is morally acceptable or not. It's also nothing to do with whether it SHOULD be illegal or not. It's about not becoming criminals ourselves. It's about not having websites or servers shut down by ISP's or "the authorities" for promoting illegal activity. It's about promoting IRC as a
chat medium, which is what it was always meant to be.
Personally, I'd be happy to see file sending and file server removed from mIRC - yes, people would find a way to script alternatives, but at least it would be clear that mIRC was not supporting or encouraging the activity. File handling was intended to complement chat, and for sending between individuals on an occasional and not continual basis. It is threatening, however, to drown mIRC's original reason for existing - a LOT of newbies now think that mIRC (and IRC in general) exists specifically for file "sharing".
PastMaster
