Cerberus wrote:Well, I'm not sure of what type of material you are after but trust me, Usenet isn't safe in any way.
First of all, most of the existing usenet providers requires a valid credit card for payment. So, if you haven't got a stolen one then you just gave your true identity away. Your downloads "may" connect to your user name, which connects to your credit card, which connects to your bank, which connects to your address. So, let's say that the RIAA gets your provide to co-operate, well then you are smoked.
The reason that I use the word "may" is that most of the providers advertises that they keep no records/logs of downloads what so ever. But, are you really going to trust this? If you read the terms of service, from most of these providers, you will see that they will co-operate with law enforcement.
And, let's jump to the case that you use someone else's credit card for payment. Well, then you have to live with the fact that you committed a fraud and you will have to use a working NNTProxy to browse the groups without revealing your true ip. Or you could do some war driving.
And the second thought. Most usenet providers offer an extra ssl-package which in fact is a pretty good thing since it keeps the data between your usenet provider and you encrypted. But still, there is this thing that you must rely on the provider to not keep track of your downloads.
Sure, Usenet is great for movies, albums, programs, mp3's and etc, but never rely on it for true privacy.
and if we use Forte Free Agent ?