Usenet and SSL

[willhub]

Hi.

I'm thinking of going on that 25GB/mo plan from Gigabews, but just wondering is Usenet safe without SSL? Is SSL worth the extra £2.50 or so? I'd rather not pay the extra for it but abit worried that its risky without it?


Thanks
Willz.

[scrambler]

I too would like to know this. I just signed up for giganews silver and opted to not have ssl for an extra $5. Not really bothered about the 20 connections but its the ssl part that's got me thinking.

ta

[djkemp1]

SSL allows better connection if your ports are throttled by your ISP. some ISP's packet sniff to see what has been downloaded by its users etc, however this would be quite rare, but with SSL it would stop anyone from seeing the downloaded information apart from the usenet provider if they chose too.

[willhub]

Thanks for the info, I decided to go for the 20GB limit package with SSL and 20 connections from Newsdemon, having some problems though, Posted in another thread, speeds were fine though, maxing my SLOW line at 320kb/sec :)

[scrambler]

SSL allows better connection if your ports are throttled by your ISP. some ISP's packet sniff to see what has been downloaded by its users etc, however this would be quite rare, but with SSL it would stop anyone from seeing the downloaded information apart from the usenet provider if they chose too.

so apart from isp throttling, is there anything else? So far i'm maxing out my connection, how long that lasts i dunno. i may just opt for it just in case. thanks.

[djkemp1]

apart from the isp throttling because its a secure connection it means that no one apart from the usenet provider has access to what is d/l etc as far as i know.

[Broken]

SSL allows better connection if your ports are throttled by your ISP. some ISP's packet sniff to see what has been downloaded by its users etc, however this would be quite rare, but with SSL it would stop anyone from seeing the downloaded information apart from the usenet provider if they chose too.

so apart from isp throttling, is there anything else? So far i'm maxing out my connection, how long that lasts i dunno. i may just opt for it just in case. thanks.

In all practicality, other than getting around ISP throttling SSL is pointless.
Monitoring an internet connection is the legal equivalent of wiretapping. As such, it is very illegal without warrants... at least in The States.

[tusks]

In short, if you're maxing out your connection already then SSL won't do much except secure that connection.

[scrambler]

when downloading binaries [unsure about headers etc as i've never downloaded them]....arn't they encrypted anyway? I don't know too much about usenet so please correct me, but grabit for example decodes everything afterwards. And also i've read its safer than torrents. So with added SSL, its only my own isp and giganews who will know what i download, right?

Is SSL just something that doesnt add much in regards to usenet?

[djkemp1]

its only my own isp and giganews who will know what i download, right
correct, but if you have SSL then its only giganews etc that would have access to what you download

[Broken]

its only my own isp and giganews who will know what i download, right
correct, but if you have SSL then its only giganews etc that would have access to what you download

Officially, what you download is unmonitored by Giganews.
They don't care about what you download, only how much. They only track bandwidth used.

But, you are correct. If you use SSL, then your ISP or any third party will not be able to monitor the content you are downloading (KEEP IN MIND THAT WOULD BE ILLEGAL ANYWAYS!).

When you download off Usenet, it's really just between you and God.

[dustout]

SSL is worth it if you download at a university or college, but otherwise your usually pretty good without it

[scubascythan]

Why don't you try if you ISP is throttling newsgroup packets first before saying how useful SSL is. I have a ISP which throttles BT upload. However newsgroup works fine here. And security? Give me a break. Unless they actually work with the ISP or a newsgroup provider, how are they going to packet sniff what your DLing. In p2p it's obvious since you establish a connection with them by DLing from them.