Comments on: RIAA triumphs in Usenet copyright case

By: deowll

deowll — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:20:31 +0000

Usenet is dying.

I’m now getting to my groups through a free portal and all it handles is text which is actually all I need it to handle.

As such a few servers scattered around should be able to handle the English speaking world all by themselves.

By: hector

hector — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:55:32 +0000

the first rule of usenet is “do not talk about usenet”.

By: Jägermeister

Jägermeister — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:42:04 +0000

#9 – ECA

Usenet is too distributed for them to stop. The only way they can get at it is to force ISPs to log all downloads.

By: Grandpa

Grandpa — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:20:18 +0000

I agree that file sharing and usenet in general help business. I can’t tell you how many shareware programs I have tried and bought. In fact, I never buy software without a trial period now. I’m sure many file sharers have downloaded ( illegally? ) programs and ended up purchasing the program later. But, the fact remains, the RIAA has court decisions saying that file sharing is illegal. They do not want us to try the music, movies, or programs via downloading. It’s inevitable, they will shut down the Internet to get what they want….your money.

By: ECA

ECA — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:04:27 +0000

#4,
true, but its a foot hold to Usenet.
They have been trying to get a hold on the Usenet for years and cant figure out how.

#5,
They dont win lots of cases..VERY FEW have ever gone to court. TO MANY are settled out of court.

#6,
yes, confusion and SCARE TACTICS.. an ISP does not want problems. so they TRY not to do anything to force then into court.

#7,
I understand. But they are trying to get to the Newsgroups and Usegroups for years and cant figure out HOW. its international, its anonymous, easy to FAKE/fool your location, its almost TOTALLY untraceable..

By: Dave W

Dave W — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:27:12 +0000

The article is misleading in that it comfuses usenet, a part of the internet, separate from the world wide web, with usenet.com, which is a commercial isp of sorts.

Usenet, one of my favorite areas of the net, has been slowly fading for about 10 years. First was degradation of newsgroups into idiotic shouting matches following the election of GWB and the subsequent 9.11.2001 attacks and the wars that followed. Next, AOL dropped newsgroups, at a time when a fair number of folks used AOL as their isp. Then, Andrew Cuomo managed to scare off a host of other isps from carrying all newsgroups. Many of them eventually dropped the service altogether. Slowly, postings diminished, even in benign groups. Of course, 95% of internet users have never even head of USENET.

Interestingly enough, I’d never heard of usenet.com.

As for the RIAA, as usual, the only worthwhile thing they ever did was establish the equalization curve for LPs. They could burn in hell as far as I’m concerned.

By: Jägermeister

Jägermeister — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:23:52 +0000

#3 – ECA – There goes the NET..
They now have a foot hold over the USENET.

No, they don’t. They won a case against Usenet.com, a company charging people to download stuff from Usenet.

By: GetSmart

GetSmart — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:53:39 +0000

AT&T (and others) have dumped the news groups recently. They had previously stopped carrying the binaries groups, now they’re all gone. Slowly, but surely the Dark ages of the Internet come upon us.

By: MikeN

MikeN — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:51:56 +0000

They seem to win lots of cases. Where are the cases they lost?

By: brian

brian — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:30:21 +0000

usenet.com…..that’s significantly different from triumphing against usenet. although, essentially it would just have the net effect of encouraging providers to dump certain usenet groups. if that happens, two more things will just rise to take it’s place. and those things might be free

By: ECA

ECA — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:11:54 +0000

There goes the NET..
They now have a foot hold over the USENET.
GET what you can and get out fast…

By: RTaylor

RTaylor — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:02:46 +0000

I had an Easynews account for years, but dropped it. They advertise they keep no logs.

By: bobbo, having read more than 1 lawsuit

bobbo, having read more than 1 lawsuit — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:39:00 +0000

I can’t identify anything unusual in this case. RIAA itself has been sanctioned for discovery violations and now Usenet has. Not unusual at all.

Once you accept the notion of copyright law as it has developed apart from its original purpose, this ruling is on its merits is well grounded.

Lets go back to the initial laws and undo 50 years of political payoffs.