Newsgroups - no longer secure & Private ??? any news providers outsde USA ?

[Racehorse]

is anyone else concerned about the DICTATORSHIP which is now the USA gov't - dictating that all US ISPS track/log all downloading activity for Pirating of Copyrighted material - thus USA newsgroups won't be secure even when using SSL connections ?

are there any "NO Connection to North America" newsgroup providers ?

[Beck38]

None of the mp$$ sponsored bills have yet passed either house of Congress.

What is more disturbing is that only one internet company has come out FOR any of the proposed legislation.... Go Daddy.com

Several usenet companies use GoDaddy for their domain registry, and in some cases (Astraweb for sure) uses them for SSL certificates. Perhaps the folks using these services need to send emails to those companies asking them why they are supporting such companies from their back pockets...

[mjmacky]

I always saw godaddy as a bit of a whore enterprise.

[cola]

I like www.tweaknews.eu for block accounts. Not sure if you need unlimited.

www.cheapnews.eu is a tweaknews reseller, but their 20mbit unlimited plan is attractive.

[B18C5]

dictating that all US ISPS track/log all downloading activity for Pirating of Copyrighted material - thus USA newsgroups won't be secure even when using SSL connections ?

How do you figure? You think they're going to do man in the middle attacks? I see huge legal liability if they start intercepting SSL and getting people's credit card data for every transaction they make over net. If News servers started to use real certs, even this MiTM attack would be pretty easy to catch. Then you can switch to a VPN and do SSL through the VPN so, the ISP would have to crack 2 levels of encryption.

[temisturk]

I see huge legal liability if they start intercepting SSL and getting people's credit card data for every transaction they make over net.

You're completely wrong. And that's (part of) the point. Section 104 of the act grants legal immunity to anyone voluntarily taking action against sites "dedicated to infringement". Where "dedicated to infringement" means little more than site which the DoJ has obtained a court order against. And remember the broad range of domain names they were able to seize--it would be naive and dangerous to assume that "site" couldn't be construed to cover news servers.

[Beck38]

The whole point of these new 'laws' would be that the DOJ and whatever they set up to 'process' the complaints, would not need any kind of 'court order' whatsoever ('we don't need no stinking badges'), just that they 'say' there is 'infringing' activity going on.

And if proven wrong, there is no way the aggrieved site can sue either the gov't or the originator of the complaint, just like is is now with the DMCA (again, 'we don't need no stinking badges'), there isn't any way in the law to bring them to the bar of justice for making any 'mistakes' (the MP$$ has admitted in the recent past, in fact the last MONTH, to have issued DMCA 'takedowns' on things they didn't have or could prove 'copyright').

GoDaddy, after having some pressure applied has relented somewhat:

http://gizmodo.com/5870870/godaddy-no-longer-supports-sopa

[B18C5]

Section 104 of the act grants legal immunity to anyone voluntarily taking action against sites "dedicated to infringement".

If you snag my credit card because I bought a CD from Amazon and you expose it, you're liable. The immunity is for going after infringing sites, not snooping on normal customers. You can't snoop on SSL without snooping on all SSL. There's no way to distinguish until you look inside. Again though, you can always just use a VPN to get out of your ISP's reach. Now, you could argue that we have a two tier justice system in the US and that only the little people will go to jail. That I can agree with. So, even if they're liable, like the banksters, the government may just protect them.

This isn't something I'm going to lose sleep over. If it happens, I'll find some other hobby.

[temisturk]

What I would be liable for today is irrelevant. The question is what might service providers NOT be liable for tomorrow; and the proposed answer is: anything that helps the government and the copyright monopolists protect the status quo.

If you're not going to lose sleep over such an attack on your legal protections then you wouldn't, unfortunately for your sake, be the only one.

[sandman_1]

I guess this only affirms that our politicians are the best that money can buy. No wonder people believe our government is run by corporations. Time to route the rats out of congress...

[zot]

I love the fact that so many people are now boycotting GoDaddy because of the company's recent support for SOPA. GoDaddy has always been one of the worst companies when it comes to standing up against the abuses of the copyright cartel. It's a cheap service, no doubt, but these goons are known to pull the plug on people in a heartbeat.

After Japan outlawed the downloading of copyrighted material last year, I figured it would be only a matter of time before the US and Europe do the same -- basically treating illicit Hollywood material as similar to child porn. Maybe in the next 'SOPA' bill?

[Sporkk]

I was wondering that if I request my accounts to be deleted from astraweb and not just cancelled would they comply? I would also like to do this with any other servers that I'm not using anymore.

[nntpjunkie]

My hope is that with all the active opposition to these bills, there is no way in hell they are going to pass - MP$$ RI$$ might try to buy politicians, but it is we the people that vote and determine whether or not the current politicians get their jobs back in 2012 - so if they want their jobs back they will listen to the people and not the greedy behind the times hazbins the MP$$ and RI$$

Sign the petition to kill SOPA (http://stopcensorship.org/)

[hdjunky]

I was wondering that if I request my accounts to be deleted from astraweb and not just cancelled would they comply? I would also like to do this with any other servers that I'm not using anymore.

Why? The OP doesn't seem to even understand what this bill is all about. Even if it did pass what would having account in records even matter?

[Sporkk]

Why? The OP doesn't seem to even understand what this bill is all about. Even if it did pass what would having account in records even matter?

I didn't think it would and maybe I'm going off topic but wouldn't it still be better to not have your info on file if your not using the service?

[sandman_1]

...but it is we the people that vote and determine whether or not the current politicians get their jobs back in 2012 - so if they want their jobs back they will listen to the people and not the greedy behind the times hazbins the MP$$ and RI$$

Sign the petition to kill SOPA (http://stopcensorship.org/)

Unfortunately a lot of those bastards are in "safe" districts and they know it. Unless we do something about gerrymandering, nothing probably won't change. I like what Iowa is doing though and that should probably be a model for the rest of the country if you ask me. Here is to hoping...

[hdjunky]

[QUOTE=hdjunky;3639376]

Why? The OP doesn't seem to even understand what this bill is all about. Even if it did pass what would having account in records even matter?
a
I didn't think it would and maybe I'm going off topic but wouldn't it still be better to not have your info on file if your n

Well paypal has all your records. Your credit card has all your usenet payment records. An expired account would be peanuts compared to the actual amount of active accounts out there. The only real way to protect yourself would be to send your cash by mail to one of the remaining few that take it. That way you can use fake information.

[zot]

There are a number of usenet resellers that promise complete anonymity. (This should only be of interest to posters/uploaders of course.) I don't know how seriously to accept that claim.


I like what Iowa is doing though and that should probably be a model for the rest of the country if you ask me. Here is to hoping...
It's interesting how the MSM suddenly began chanting the chorus "Iowa doesn't count" the instant that "fringe candidate" Ron Paul started leading in the polls. (But personally, I think it's all for naught. Both the MSM and the Republican Party establishment have already gone into overdrive trying to smear him, and with that combined force against him, he could soon be reduced to Herman Cain numbers, I suspect)

[Beck38]

From the 'slippery slope' department, makes for good reading:

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111223/23500917186/funniestmost-insightful-comments-week-techdirt.shtml

[temisturk]

There are a number of usenet resellers that promise complete anonymity. (This should only be of interest to posters/uploaders of course.) I don't know how seriously to accept that claim.

The way I look at it, with the amount of the amount of spamming and ddos'ing and stuff that everyone operating on the internet has to defend themselves against, and the amount of hacking going on, and the amount of new laws being proposed and enacted giving governments and corporations ever increasing powers to poke their noses into private dealings, and the increasing prevalence of "super cookies" and things like that, the only safe assumption you can make is that someone somewhere is actively recording or at the very least able to record permanently everything you do on the Internet.

That doesn't mean there's going to be a knock on your door tomorrow. But next week or next year--who knows?


From the 'slippery slope' department, makes for good reading:

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111223/23500917186/funniestmost-insightful-comments-week-techdirt.shtml

Nice. I've found myself reading techdirt more and more over the past year, I think it's great.

[sandman_1]

There are a number of usenet resellers that promise complete anonymity. (This should only be of interest to posters/uploaders of course.) I don't know how seriously to accept that claim.


I like what Iowa is doing though and that should probably be a model for the rest of the country if you ask me. Here is to hoping...
It's interesting how the MSM suddenly began chanting the chorus "Iowa doesn't count" the instant that "fringe candidate" Ron Paul started leading in the polls. (But personally, I think it's all for naught. Both the MSM and the Republican Party establishment have already gone into overdrive trying to smear him, and with that combined force against him, he could soon be reduced to Herman Cain numbers, I suspect)

The powers to be don't want him in office period. Most of MSM feel the same way. I watch CNN, MSNBC, FOX News, et al all the time and they rarely talk about Ron Paul. And when they do, they usually ask stupid questions like "Which candidate would you support for the presidency?". What kind of fucked up shit it that. And you got idiots like Gingrich leading in some polls especially after he calls poor people lazy or the OWS a bunch of hippies that need to take a bath. Seriously this guy doesn't have a prayer against Obama saying shit like that and alienating people. People think Gingrich would lay the smack down on Obama in a debate but I think it would be the other way around. Gingrich's flaw is his hubris. Romney's flaws are that he made his millions off of running companies out of business, got rid of tons of American jobs in the process, and flip-flops depending of the political weather. If the Republicans think Gingrich and Romney are the best they got, they are really in trouble and don't have prayer in 2012.

Just my 2 cents...

[marriedacrazy1]

There are a number of usenet resellers that promise complete anonymity. (This should only be of interest to posters/uploaders of course.) I don't know how seriously to accept that claim.


It's interesting how the MSM suddenly began chanting the chorus "Iowa doesn't count" the instant that "fringe candidate" Ron Paul started leading in the polls. (But personally, I think it's all for naught. Both the MSM and the Republican Party establishment have already gone into overdrive trying to smear him, and with that combined force against him, he could soon be reduced to Herman Cain numbers, I suspect)

The powers to be don't want him in office period. Most of MSM feel the same way. I watch CNN, MSNBC, FOX News, et al all the time and they rarely talk about Ron Paul. And when they do, they usually ask stupid questions like "Which candidate would you support for the presidency?". What kind of fucked up shit it that. And you got idiots like Gingrich leading in some polls especially after he calls poor people lazy or the OWS a bunch of hippies that need to take a bath. Seriously this guy doesn't have a prayer against Obama saying shit like that and alienating people. People think Gingrich would lay the smack down on Obama in a debate but I think it would be the other way around. Gingrich's flaw is his hubris. Romney's flaws are that he made his millions off of running companies out of business, got rid of tons of American jobs in the process, and flip-flops depending of the political weather. If the Republicans think Gingrich and Romney are the best they got, they are really in trouble and don't have prayer in 2012.

Just my 2 cents...

I agree with you, and it's even more telling after the latest crap in iowa, where a man can get ahead in the race after making the most blatantly racist comments I have heard in too many years. Sad.....