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Comment by peterwwillis | Hacker News Reader

Usenet has for years been the most reliable, easiest source for high-quality same-day releases that the Copyright Czars have always ignored (probably due to lack of popularity). The more popular it gets, the quicker it gets killed.

I mean, few people realize how ridiculously, amazingly simple it is to download a movie or even an entire series using Usenet and NZBs. Click a file and start downloading at full bandwidth. That's it. No torrent seeding bullshit, no download caps or mirrors to find. It's incredible. And we're scared it might become popular.

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Honest question, how would usenet get killed?

Usenet posts are, for all intents and purposes, anonymous. Sure there's some source header information, but that's extremely easy to spoof and there's already dozens of SAAS upload services which hide the user's identity.

Downloaders are as anonymous as their NNTP provider makes them, thanks to SSL encrypted connections.

The only attack vector for copyright holders is to go after the service providers, which _should_ fall under safe-haven rules. The worst they can do is issue DMCA takedowns for individual posts, which can number in the hundred of thousands for just a single video.

If safe haven didn't apply, usenet itself is distributed, take down one host and people will simply move to another.

Each provider still has take down rules in place, which propagate to the other providers. I guess if the copyright holders monitor every file like a hawk, they can send tons of take downs and pretty much cripple the library.

Ah, I wasn't aware that takedowns propagate. That does change things.

@evandena > which propagate to the other providers

Source? I haven't heard of DMCA takedowns propagating to other separate companies. Resellers sure (same company). Many users have specifically avoided Highwinds resellers due to the large number of takedowns they receive, implying that whoever else they find isn't getting (or observing) the notices.

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