More ISPs Pull The Plug On Usenet
Posted 07/19/08 at 11:01:13 PM | by Justin Kerr
The New York State Attorney General’s office has won another battle in its war against child pornography on the Usenet. AT&T and AOL have joined Sprint and Verizon to drop large chunks of the alt.* hierarchy, thereby limiting access. This comes as a major disappointment to Usenet surfers who make legitimate use of the alt.* service. Internet service providers have been under increased public pressure to address Usenet abuse since a recent investigation turned up over 11,000 child porn images scattered across 88 different newsgroups. Intervention by ISPs was inevitable, but they are treading very carefully into the foray. Network providers maintain a strict policy of noninterference when it comes to moderating the content of their networks. Improper filtering of content can be seen as promotion and has lead to lawsuits in some cases.
Usenet is a giant bulletin board with thousands of “newsgroups” each devoted to a given subject, not all of which are legal. In addition to child pornography, Usenet has also proven to be a safe haven for piracy. Usenet’s small but dedicated community has operated out of the spotlight for some time, but has gained in popularity as users searched for an alternative to peer to peer networks. In today’s super sensitive legal environment Usenet has attracted a seedy subculture since it offers a clear advantage over Bit Torrent in terms of privacy. Because the IP address of the downloading machine is only known by the Usenet server, investigators have more difficulty tracking down users. Bit Torrent by contrast, broadcasts a user’s IP each time a packet is sent out or received.
With all that we know now, is Usenet worth saving?
Let us know what you think!
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Usenet today, what about tomorrow?
Submitted by Stockislander on Sun, 2008-07-20 20:59
I'm sure any excuse to cut down costs of maintaining infrastructure will be happily adopted by ISPs. Alt.binaries consumes a lot of bandwith, I'll bet. And the great thing about the child pornography gambit is that it's so reprehensible and deviant that no-one would ever dare defend it. I had to really think hard if I even wanted to join this discussion!Sure, when used against a little-known part of the net, most people will respond as you all have... big deal, move on to "modern" times you Neanderthals. However, I believe this is a test case. I predict that the child pornography angle will be brought to bear on many more aspects of the net than just newsgroups, just as the usage of terrorism has brought about fundamental erosion of our rights and liberties in Real Life.The fact is, a system as wild and free as the internet will have nasty corners and sick people in it... they are a part of humanity's spectrum. Limiting_your_freedom and access to any part of the net will not cause these people to go away, or become healed and a part of functional society. It will, however, get votes for ambitous politicians and allow the censorship camel's nose into the net's tent.
Well, on principle I'm not
Submitted by jwalch.hawk on Sat, 2008-07-19 23:43
Well, on principle I'm not so how not on this.
But do I think Usenet is worth saving? Meh, not really. I think the main reason that the seedy folks tend towards it has to do with its relative obscurity and lack of attention paid to it more so than its actual privacy advantages (though those don't hurt, I'm sure). I'm sure those folks will think of some new modern way to not get caught anyway.
I'm not trying to be insensitive toward the people that actually use it for its legitimate purpose, but I mean.. What are there, like a dozen of them? I really can't foresee any large group of people coming out with torches and pitchforks if ISPs kill Usenet. I think most of those that do use it are going to be perfectly content moving and joining forum communities and the like.
Submitted by sirphunkee on Sun, 2008-07-20 01:19
you'd be surprised, honestly. I was. Check it out...www.giganews.com (biggest usenet provider, some eye-opening stats there). Still quite a thriving, if a little shadowy, community.
it's still pretty popular overseas too
Submitted by jwalch.hawk on Sun, 2008-07-20 14:09
It says 107k+ newsgroups? That is quite a few... Though that doesn't really imply much about how many people are actually on there. Maybe more early adopters are sticking around with UseNet than I thought? Idk. I really would've figured most had kind of abandoned it. Guess not from that number, though.
sounds to me like they're
Submitted by AndyYankee17 on Sat, 2008-07-19 21:52
sounds to me like they're shooting the messenger. this is essentially like shutting down all of maximumpc.com because of what some people say on the forums. it makes no sense
It does seem a bit extreme.
Submitted by Justin.Kerr on Sat, 2008-07-19 22:00
It does seem a bit extreme. but legit users could always move to forums.
Usenet is a bit outdated.
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