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Originally Posted by napho
I have a massive stake in Usenet, namely my $10/month bill!!!
It's amazing that the copyright holders haven't gone after Usenet servers directly a long time ago. There must be some legal precedent preventing them. Indexing sites are all pretty much the same, be they eDonkey, G2, or Usenet, so it's no surprise that they're broadening their attack.
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Usenet providers are protected by something called "common carrier status". Wikipedia defines that as, an organization that transports a product or service using its facilities, or those of other carriers, and offers its services to the general public.
My personal feelings on what is happening, or rather about to happen, to binnews are mixed. I think it is ironic and almost karma like that they will most likely meet their demise through this lawsuit but on the other side i think it could be a tremendous boon to usenet.
Binnews.com started the whole usenet indexing thing only to become shunned by the larger part of the community when they started charging for site use. D9 probably made some pretty good money off the site but now it is all about to go back into the site for legal defense that will likely bankrupt the site. It's almost as if a circle is closing.
I also think usenet stands to benefit by some mainstream exposure. The more people that sign up with premium providers the more money those providers will have to offer longer retention and reliable service. More money for the providers and better service for us. It is a win/win situation.
The thing that I think I am most surprised about is how much respect i have for D9. He made his mark on usenet by having the first big usenet indexing site. He could easily just take the money and run, but he is going to fight the losing battle that can make usenet a household term.
See, in my vision of the future, P2P is dead. Everybody uses newsgroups and companies like giganews have so much money the copyright cartel is scared of them. In my vision of the future, copyright infringment allegations need to actually include some bonafide evidence. Associations that are granted permission to represent thousands of copyright owners en masse will have to actually download the content and not simply copy a header. They will have to have some type of data validation but worst of all they will have to file those lawsuits one by one and in compliance with due process, not in batches of hundreds at a time.
I USED TO think my vision of the future was a pipe dream. Hey, maybe it is not just a stoned fantasy.
thats one of my two cents,
dumwaldo