Instant Messaging and Internet Chat

Instant messaging is a technology with which even most novice computer users are now familiar. To activists, it can be useful for the purposes of holding online meetings, discussions, and even real time collaboration. Unlike teleconferencing, using Internet chat automatically generates a complete transcript of the discussion, making it easy to edit and distribute notes to participants afterwards. In addition, it doesn’t require the use of telephones, which can sometimes be expensive. There is also the additional advantage of being able to quickly and easily exchange hyperlinks and files. Many instant messaging clients even support audio and video conferencing. The chief downside of using Internet chat, as opposed to voice/video conferencing or in-person meetings, is that it can significantly extend the amount of time necessary to complete a discussion. For these reasons, organizations might consider using a mix of the technologies.

Check out this link for information on how some organizations have utilized instant messaging: www.unites.org/html/resource/im/im0.htm

A wide variety of instant messaging clients are available. Some are interoperable, allowing users to communicate with users of other networks (such as how GAIM allows users to access AIM, MSN, Yahoo, and IRC). A detailed comparison of major instant messaging clients can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_instant_messaging_clients.

Security Considerations

For activists, the primary concern in choosing a client should be security. Messages sent to and from instant messaging clients can be intercepted just as easily as email. To protect your communications when using these programs, a number of plugins are available that add encryption features to various popular instant messaging programs. Let’s take a closer look at the capabilities of each of these security plugins, according to which instant messaging application they are designed for:

AOL Instant Messenger (AIM)

www.aim.com
AIM, in general, is considered to be riddled with security holes and should be avoided. If you insist on using it, several distributions of PGP (see previous subsection) include plugins for AIM. A plugin called SecureIM is also available, but is not currently considered to be secure.

Windows Live Messenger

http://download.live.com/?sku=messenger
Several encryption plugins are available for Windows Live Messenger. However, Microsoft products generally have a poor reputation for security, and should probably be avoided as well. Learn more about the plugins at www.encrsoft.com, www.secway.fr/us/products/simplite_msn, and www.zonelabs.com/store/content/catalog/products/sku_list_imsp.jsp?lid=ho...

Yahoo Messenger

http://messenger.yahoo.com
There are at least one or two encryption plugins available for Yahoo Messenger, most of which are also available in versions that are compatible with some of the other major chat clients. See http://solidlabs.com/chatencrypter and www.secway.fr/us/products/simplite_yahoo (the latter address is the official site of SimpLite, which also works with MSN Messenger.

Trillian

www.trillian.cc
Trillian includes built-in encryption with SecureIM, which, as mentioned earlier, isn’t really all that secure (due to authentication issues). These types of issues are major problems on the networks to which Trillian connects (AIM, Yahoo, and MSN).

Pidgin

www.pidgin.im
As an open-source instant messaging client, Pidgin (formerly known as GAIM) has more potential for robust security. A number of plugins are available to support encryption on Pidgin. These include Off The Record, also known as OTR (www.cypherpunks.ca/otr), and Pidgin-Encryption (http://pidgin-encrypt.sourceforge.net/).

One lesser-known client with robust security built-in:

ScatterChat

www.scatterchat.com
ScatterChat is an instant messaging client that, unlike the others mentioned above, has extensive security features built into the software. It is based on GAIM, and provides multiple forms of security, including encryption and protection against traffic analysis with Tor (see “Anonymity on the Web” in the “Encryption and Data Security” section). It is possibly the most secure instant messaging client available. See also “Anonymity on the Web” in the “Encryption and Data Security” section of this module, for information on additional tools for securing Internet communications, including instant messages.