We Had to Destroy alt.* to Save It

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June 11, 2008

We Had to Destroy alt.* to Save It

CNET's Declan McCullagh says an anti-child-porn deal between ISPs and the New York Attorney General will involve a curtailment of Usenet access, with Time Warner Cable eliminating all access and Sprint going after the entire alt hierarchy:

"Time Warner Cable said it will cease to offer customers access to any Usenet newsgroups, a decision that will affect customers nationwide. Sprint said it would no longer offer any of the tens of thousands of alt.* Usenet newsgroups. Verizon's plan is to eliminate some 'fairly broad newsgroup areas.'

"It's not quite the death of Usenet (which has been predicted, incorrectly, countless times). But if a politician can pressure three of the largest Internet providers into censorial acquiescence, it may only be a matter of time before smaller ones like Supernews, Giganews, and Usenet.com feel the squeeze.

"Cuomo's office said it had 'reviewed millions of pictures over several months' and found only '88 different newsgroups' containing child pornography."

So naturally it's best to just eliminate Usenet.

I recently started using Gnus again and that meant it was as easy as not to subscribe to a few newsgroups (I tried to love Unison, but it just wasn't happening). Usenet does not feel to me like it did when I was first reading groups in 1991, but it's a nice thing to have around. news.answers alone provides plenty of entertainment.

The thought of alt.folklore.urban being tossed along with a handful of bad actors has me hoping my own ISP keeps its head on this.