A site calling itself IRSeek, until recently has been logging IRC chats and posting them to their website as a searchable index.   Due to public backlash, they have recently stopped (as noted in an open letter on their blog).  This endeavor was started by the people behind B&C Advanced Solutions LTD. 

While logging is a part of IRC and many chatters do it, there are institutions that log without contributing to the community, and generally do not publish this data to the internet as IRSeek apparently did.  That not withstanding, one has to wonder the true motivations.  To log IRC networks takes a lot of of effort and coordination.  As noted, this is not the first attempt to log IRC as Google and the ISPs have (or are) logging various networks at some point or another.  The idea behind this may have roots in Marketing.  Logging IRC and providing keyword analysis of these logs would be valuable insight into a potentially valuable consumer market segment.

My own position on this isn't the actual logging itself, although I would think that anything stated on IRC networks is open domain, the activities that take place on the IRC networks are at the discretion of the administrators and/or the communities at large.  If these "loggers" are logging IRC without contributing to the community, I find it to be largely unethical... emboldened by the fact that many loggers use ToR or other anonymizers and proxies.  If loggers are looking to legitimately contribute, they should present themselves openly and visibly, enabling their removal if desired.  I would actually take it one step further, permission should be granted if logging is to be desired or allowed.  IRC conversations, while often public do take place in a controlled medium of accountability.  IRC Networks determine who is and is not permitted to access their networks and thus, while they are public in many ways, they truly are not.  Connection to the network is at the discretion of the administration and connection to the channels are at the discretion of the moderators.  Uninvited logging "services" are merely nuisances and interruptions on par with botnets and other activities not invited on welcome on various networks. 

What do you think?