Astraweb/EU Flat on it's Face

Usually, I don't comment much on the EU servers of any service, since I'm on the other side of the planet and a lot of the time really can't tell much of what's (perhaps) going on.

But I did notice some 12+ hours ago, that things were getting a bit wobbly there, but chalked it off of the 'usual' wobbliness I see on a daily basis from most/all servers.

But today, it's flat on it's face, not responding at all. The 'front end' is still there, and responding to pings, but it's not actually 'awake' and responding to request for things like, headers or even main bodies of messages. Dead.

Folks have mentioned to me in the past about such happenings with the EU server, but I hadn't tripped across such totally down/flat on it's face response before. I'm sure that those who utilize this server on a daily basis know better than I, but we'll see how long it takes to come back 'alive'.

Speaking of European servers, my friend uses Astraweb and said a new TV show was gone from the US server but was there on the European one. Maybe she was mistaken, if not, I'm surprised they differentiate.

Legally, they are two different companies operating in two different legal jurisdictions. If one wants to get a DMCA ruling on both plants, one has to issue a take-down notice to each, and have it accepted by both.

The EU plant slowly started coming back up about 6 or so hours ago. It's still acting slow but at least it's responding, and it doesn't appear to be any transmission slowdowns (across the US or across the 'pond'), particularly as other EU/Amsterdam plants run by others (like Giganews/EU) seem to be running just fine.

In doing some more IP routing research, I find that traffic leaving my area of the US going to Astraweb/EU (Amsterdam) is being routed by Cogentco across the Atlantic on the Hibernia Atlantic fiber cable, one of the slowest and smallest capacity systems which connects Massachusetts to (eventually) the UK, and then on to the European continent.

Connections to other plants, such as Giganews/EU, follow a completely different path (through NY/Long Island) and trans-Atlantic system, and is fairly fast (very fast by comparison).

I'm sending a 'nasty gram' to my ISP as to why the recent change in routing tables by Congentco.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Beck38

Legally, they are two different companies operating in two different legal jurisdictions. If one wants to get a DMCA ruling on both plants, one has to issue a take-down notice to each, and have it accepted by both.

---

Proof?

They have a presence in the U.S. so this, the servers are out of the US, wouldn't stand up in a U.S. court I guarantee you. Also did we forget that Astraweb accepts DMCA notices automatically? There isn't any, "have it accepted".

So I'm sure (NOT) that the next thing we'll see is proof of your law degree, the bar in which you've been accepted and are in good standing, and of course, since we're talking federal law/jurisdiction, which federal/district court you've been accepted to practice in/at.

In the case of astra operating in the US or out and the 'automated' DMCA takedowns, the companies or legal entities using such have to sign an agreement that if they get caught taking down something that they don't have the paperwork backing up that move, they are in jeopardy of being criminally indicted. All that automation allows them to do is 'act fast' and follow up with the paperwork in a few days.

You can think that folks will simply 'assume' that you know anything. The fact remains, is that things don't disappear 'in sync' at the exact same time on both plants, either on Astra or on any other 'twin' operation. There is a bit of lag time, although not very much. Those who have automated the download process, in fact, rely on that delay to allow their users to grab things before the hammer falls, even when that bit of time may be only an hour or two.

And once again, I have to remind you that I've been active in usenet for almost 30 years, been posting virtually 24/7 in well known and heavily utilized newsgroups the last 15 of those, and have never (NEVER) had anything targeted or taken down, utilizing pretty minimal obfuscation techniques and with no reliance on pay-walled (or otherwise) web sites containing 'keys' to that content, only a bit of a brain.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Beck38

So I'm sure (NOT) that the next thing we'll see is proof of your law degree, the bar in which you've been accepted and are in good standing, and of course, since we're talking federal law/jurisdiction, which federal/district court you've been accepted to practice in/at.

---

Never claimed to be a lawyer bruh. Common sense and what has happened in the past, i.e. Megaupload, would tell you that having a server offshore but having a presence in the US doesn't mean you are A-OK with your other servers not located in US.

Quote:

---

In the case of astra operating in the US or out and the 'automated' DMCA takedowns, the companies or legal entities using such have to sign an agreement that if they get caught taking down something that they don't have the paperwork backing up that move, they are in jeopardy of being criminally indicted. All that automation allows them to do is 'act fast' and follow up with the paperwork in a few days.

---

BS, the shit happens all the time man. Ask Google about bogus DMCA take downs and then see how many of the entities asking for the bogus take down were liable for damages? The answer is none. Also it isn't even a criminal matter. You can sue for damages and costs but have fun trying to prove wrong doing as far as that goes. And as Astraweb have already admitted to, they can't afford a person to monitor or track these DMCA take downs for validity, thus the reason for the "automated system".

Maybe try changing port or ISP. My old ISP one day decided that it was gonna throttle my usenet port even though they said they didn't throttle me. And this was a 24/7 throttle... They didn't want me using that port. Changed ISP and all good.