Verizon nukes alt.binaries.dvd.*

[VirtualLarry]

I came home last night to a BSOD, and I lost my DDC info on my monitor. Not only that, but when I went to browse some of my favorite newsgroups, they were gone! I get an "error 411 - no such group" error. When only minutes before, I had finished downloading headers for the groups.

Can anyone else confirm or deny that Verizon online has nuked the alt.binaries.dvd.* hierarchy? Newsgroups were the only reason that I chose Verizon service. If they removed them, I'm going to be gone as a subscriber as well.

Edit: Found a confirmation, check out this thread on DSLR. link

Such a shame...

 

[CalvinHobbes]

There was a news release a week or two ago that said Verizon was getting rid of all Alt.binaries. groups.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-9967119-38.html

 

[ch33zw1z]

so sad 🙁 guess I'll be paying for giganews or something..

 

[JackMDS]

From: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-9967119-38.html

"No law requires Verizon to do this. Instead, the company (and, to varying extents, Time Warner Cable and Sprint) agreed to restrictions on Usenet in response to political strong-arming by New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat.

Cuomo claimed that his office found child porn on 88 newsgroups--out of roughly 100,000 newsgroups that exist. In a press release, he took credit for the companies' blunderbuss-style newsgroup removal by saying: "We are attacking this problem by working with Internet service providers...I commend the companies that have stepped up today to embrace a new standard of responsibility, which should serve as a model for the entire industry."

 

[mcmilljb]

I agree with JackMDS. They took a sledgehammer to the problem! Too bad they missed and took out legal Usenet groups. :Q It was probably done more to free up resources and get some PR. Haven't Usenet newsgroups gone down in popularity any ways?

 

[RebateMonger]

Yeah, various governments are blackmailing the big ISPs with threats of lawsuits or even criminal complaints.

 

[JackMDS]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger
Yeah, various governments are blackmailing the big ISPs with threats of lawsuits or even criminal complaints.

Yeah, unfortunately it is another tool adding to the Push to privatize the Internet.

I.e., like cable TV, One pays for what One wants, so if One opts to get S-x related channels, it is One's choice and, his responsibility to control it.