News - Dark Days for Usenet

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Dutch 'News Service', Europe's largest Usenet provider, forced to close after losing legal battle.

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Read more.

as terrible as this is for freedoms, usenet is pretty much primarily a warez source, even if it wasn't designed as that it is commonly accepted as that

the fight against piracy has come way way way too late in the game so the law needs to resort to "dirty" tactics to stem the flow

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Originally Posted by Tunnah

as terrible as this is for freedoms, usenet is pretty much primarily a warez source, even if it wasn't designed as that it is commonly accepted as that

the fight against piracy has come way way way too late in the game so the law needs to resort to "dirty" tactics to stem the flow

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I think the core issue here is that Usenet servers around the world all mirror the content of one another. There are many legitimate uses of these servers, both in text and binary form, all of which will be damaged by irresponsible legal requests.

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Originally Posted by Scribe

There are many legitimate uses of these servers, both in text and binary form, all of which will be damaged by irresponsible legal requests.

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Or indeed by irresponsible illegal usage. A shame any innocent users have to suffer the consequences of the actions of idiots, but that's the way in so many walks of life.

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Originally Posted by kalniel

Or indeed by irresponsible illegal usage. A shame any innocent users have to suffer the consequences of the actions of idiots, but that's the way in so many walks of life.

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This is true, though I've always found it a difficult subject. This issue of backup copies of software vs illegal redistribution, the matter that some content is illegal in one country but not another, stringent T&Cs in digital products for personal usage and so on. For me this is why it is important not to hold the service provider directly responsible and resolve these debates in a more open and public manner, until more acceptable and clean-cut laws are in place.

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Originally Posted by kalniel

Or indeed by irresponsible illegal usage. A shame any innocent users have to suffer the consequences of the actions of idiots, but that's the way in so many walks of life.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackstone's_formulation

A principle sadly lost on highly authoritarian contemporary bureaucrats.