ISP's are shutting off USENET because of Andrew Cuomo, Secretary of State for New York State.
>From the Wikipedia article on Cuomo- On June 10 2008 Cuomo, then New York Attorney General, announced that three major Internet service providers (Verizon Communications<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verizon_Communications>, Time Warner Cable <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Warner_Cable>, and Sprint <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprint_Nextel>) would "shut down major sources of online child pornography" by no longer hosting many Usenet<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet>groups. Time Warner Cable ceased offering Usenet altogether, Sprint no longer provides access to the alt.* hierarchy<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alt.%2A_hierarchy>, and Verizon limiting its Usenet offerings to the Big 8<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_8_%28Usenet%29>. The moves came after Cuomo's office located 88 different newsgroups that contained child pornography <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_pornography>. Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_Liberties_Union>'s technology and liberty program, compared the action to "taking a sledgehammer to an ant." <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Cuomo> -- I think it is idiotic and short sighted but I have Verizon which allows the big 8. I still buy usenet separately from Forte so I can read alt.fan.pratchett among others. Plus the alt hierarchies are available through google groups. This also has the effect of killing many of the local usenet heirachies. If they wanted to stop usenet pron most of what was needed to do was block binaries groups. I think this is grandstanding and I will never vote for the fool. I have a mind to actively boycott New York but I never go there anyway. On Fri, Aug 1, 2008 at 12:27 PM, mike <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > ISP's are dropping USENET completely now also...i wager at the request of > the same who are wanting p2p shut down. > > Mike > > On Fri, Aug 1, 2008 at 8:54 AM, Tom Piwowar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > >The bluenoses are merely looking for some way to justify hating you... > > > > I is not at all limited to sexually explicit material. > > > > In the news today we have reports of China's decision to block parts of > > the Internet from visiting journalists. These are mainly political views > > being blocked. > > > > We have Comcast and possibly now AT&T blocking P2P. > > > > Last night I was at Home Depot and found the store's parking lot > > plastered with "No Loitering" signs as well as signs in Spanish that > > claimed the parking lot was now under video surveillance. > > > > > > ************************************************************************* > > ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** > > ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** > > ************************************************************************* > > > > > ************************************************************************* > ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** > ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** > ************************************************************************* > -- John Duncan Yoyo -------------------------------o) ************************************************************************* ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *************************************************************************
