Usenet , or User’s Network , is a worldwide distributed discussion system available on computers. It was developed from the general-purpose Unix-to-Unix Copy (UUCP)dial-up network architecture. [… ]
Users read and post messages (called articles or posts , and collectively termed news ) to one or more topic categories, known as newsgroups. Usenet resembles a bulletin board system (BBS) in many respects and is the precursor to the Internet forums that have become widely used. Discussions are threaded, as with web forums and BBSes, though posts are stored on the server sequentially.
It looks like the files are still hosted by rando friends on the internet so no guarantee that they don’t contain malware.
The default usage connects you with a provider so they suffer from the same issues that VPN providers do where you’re offloading trust to the USENET provider.
So while it’s the same issue of – you really need to trust and understand the implications of VPN/USENET and you should be fine – it seems the way usenet is discussed in the broader public is similar to VPNs where the issues of torrents magically disappears.
Now I’ve also heard the argument that USENET is also less popular and costs a fee so that would inherently make it less used than torrents and therefore less tracked, but I really just don’t buy it and think that it’s a lot of potential people putting themselves at risk by switching to usenet with expectations of invincibility to tracking and malware.
Am I missing something? Also gonna put this in off topic but may make sense in Privacy.
The files are hosted by your Usenet provider, that is the main difference between Usenet and torrents. As you can imagine this takes a lot of storage, which is why there are only like 3 real Usenet providers anymore and everyone else is simply reselling their services.
The main benefit here is that since you’re using HTTPS to connect to your Usenet provider, your connection is basically E2EE and nobody besides you and your provider can see what you are downloading, even if you don’t use a VPN. With torrents the information about what you’re downloading is public, of course.
The files are uploaded by random people on the internet so there is still that risk, yes.
This is also why Debrid services are gaining traction These are used in a very similar fashion. You pay $3-5 per month to access a providers large cache of files, which can then be used in conjuction with other software / services to access and then stream remotely without having to host your own media server.
I would also say there is some risk in trusting the provider as well. Especially if you are using a provider to access pirated material.
Yes to be clear even though most of the visibility of what you are downloading is eliminated with Usenet, I would still use a VPN anyways to eliminate that remaining risk, and I would also not use this for illegal purposes in any case
Lets consider the threat model needed for activist organization for instance. You are building the internet version of the black panthers and you want to avoid in-person meatspace gatherings.
I don’t really see much value in Usenet for situations like this, so I’m not sure if a Usenet-specific section is really on-topic for our website (for the same reason we don’t recommend torrent clients either, basically)
In essence, would usenet be a more secure way to organize anonymous activist groups to avoid physical confrontations but spread ideas and set up in person food drives and such?
Yeah, i guess that is mostly what woukd be valuable to such a cause, but I think there’s something about centralizing the accessability of the website with a more built in anonymity.
Also requiring a subscription payment for USENET is also a hindrence to so it may be that the TOR network could be most suitable plus what you linked.
