Usenet/Internet Under Attack

Black days seem to have arrived for the I-net. I've been reading about the demise of the net for years, and have always dismissed the apprehensions as paranoia, but the current threats are tough to laugh off, and are coming from several directions at once.

1- Usenet censorship
2- Metered bandwidth
3- Net neutrality

I now have about 5 days left before my ISP, Verizon, pulls the plug on the Usenet access that they have been providing for years, as part of their basic service. The details of this decision are enough to make my blood boil. It's one of the most cynical and disingenuous maneuvers I've ever seen. According to some sources Verizon is going to apply this policy nationwide, though I doubt they'll do so in areas where competing ISPs have not entered into this conspiratorial agreement which the big three ISPs in NY State have cooked up.

I'm free, for the present, to take up with a pay Usenet provider, and will probably do so, but that won't help me if
A: That sick, fascist bastard Andrew Cuomo, the Attorney General of NYS, succeeds in getting access to ALL Usenet servers cut off. Which is exactly what he aims to do, or...
B: Metered usage comes into the picture, which will limit my downloading to the point where paying for an outside service will do me little good. Time Warner Cable has announced that it's starting to implement metered usage in Texas. If it flies, all the others will soon follow.

Some ISPs are banning P2P traffic, and now Usenet is under attack for the first time that I can remember, at least from an entity as powerful as a state government. If metered usage becomes a reality, my ability to contribute to forums such as this one will vanish, and much, much more importantly the wild and woolly Internet as we have known it will have ceased to exist.

I don't know if this is quite the same as what you're talking about, but I have to go with a satellite connection which sets very strict limits on up and downloading bandwidth. The best I can get is a package that lets me upload 5G a month; barely enough to service a photo site, let alone let me put my fair share of stuff up here. People like you who put up such huge amounts of great stuff would certainly be reduced to a trickle. If you "abuse" your usage, at least with my provider, you aren't cut off but you're slowed down to speeds about like dial-up. It sucks alright.

Metered bandwith has the stench about it of corporations that want to continue reaping their huge profits off the internet without putting a penny into the infrastructure of it.

otiscleotus wrote:That's about it. Greedy corporations who can never see past the next quarterly report. Computing has always been driven by the "killer app". The people who are currently developing what they hope will be the next killer apps, the ones which will drive the broadband market, are all howling at the specter of metered bandwidth.

Wow. You topic here has definitely bothered me. I am, now, concerned about this. To me, limiting the internet in any way- whether it be by bandwidth or a tier structure- IS CENSORSHIP. It would be just another way the government can control us. Let's face it, many of us use the internet to explore and have fun in ways that would not be accepted by the average 'Joe/Jane' citizen.

I may have just rationalized, but in a satellite link I always thought it was somewhat justified even if it IS a real pain in the ass since there is a finite capacity involved and high usage demand, but limiting users with fiber optics, a technology who's largest selling point was its "almost limitless" carrying capacity, or even regular cable seems inexcusable.

Of course Usenet should be censored.

Sugarman wrote:

Now that's censorship

James Lewis wrote:

How can an Attorney General do such a thing? Isn't there a law required in order to do so?
About general Usenet access i would not worry too much (yet). As long as it is just New York State there are ways to circumvent this. A proxy in a different state or a different country can give you access to the whole Internet including Usenet as long as these fascist do not prohibit or block access to proxies.

In can totally understand how you feel. It also drives me crazy when individuals who should serve all of the public start to impose their pathetic narrow-minded views onto the rest of the people.

Europe so far has been quite good at free speech on the internet or civil rights (except the UK), but this is changing. As with every new trend originating in the US also the ideas of eroding civil rights, spying on people, censorship or total surveillance are creeping over the Atlantic to make our lives here miserable as well.

But: Heads up my fellow internet surfer! Maybe there will a change after January 20th in the way of serving the public to actually use intelligence instead of balls. I keep my fingers crossed ...

Sugarman wrote:

This CENSORED gets frustrating. Whenever you CENSORED the first CENSORED is CENSORED . The CENSORED news is that CENSORED and when all else fails, remember this little secret; CENSORED.

Capped usage over here in UK has been going on for a wile now, long gone are the days "real" unlimited internet access.

In fact the UK has one of the slowest if not the slowest broad band connection speeds in the whole of Europe being around 2mbits as an average.

I was reading recently that unless the big corps don't start investing in creating more bandwidth that the net will grind to a halt with in the next couple of years.

I think the real reason for capping peoples internet usage is more for profits to the big corps by offering a limited service to there customers there bandwidth charges are less and profits increase. But lets not forget, they are still charging the same monthly prices! lol

At some point I can see parts of the net going back to what it used to be, private servers and password protected boards.

Who remembers them days! haha

I Do!

The best thing for usenet and the internet in general is verizon causing itself trouble... it is the single worst ISP for problem causing users and will not police itself.

While the vast majority of verizon users are good netters, think of how much better then usenet would be with just the three problem cases losing their access...

Can you hear me now!? Frackers!

Yep, incoming, look up the new Ipatriot act. Will be on the net before you can think :/

Usenet is under attack it seems. It seems that IP industry attacks whatever it cans to survive.