Entertainment Industry Gets Another Usenet Provider To Shut Down: Is Usenet Illegal?

from the the-state-of-the-internet dept

I first got online in the days before the web existed, and spent much of my time on Usenet, that group of message boards that was useful for discussions of all types. While obviously much of those conversations moved to the web or email over the years, it's still pretty ridiculous to see the entertainment industry continue to attack Usenet and basically act as if all of Usenet is illegal. As we noted a little over a month ago, a court in the Netherlands sided with anti-piracy group BREIN, and ordered Usenet provider News-Service (NSE) to wave a magic wand and somehow figure out which Usenet posts were infringing and which weren't. Not surprisingly, that's impossible, and NSE has announced that it's just shutting down entirely instead. NSE was the largest Usenet provider in Europe. And now it's dead. Because the entertainment industry refuses to adapt, and thus blames the technology for how the technology is used, a useful (legal) service is gone. For what it's worth, NSE will continue to appeal the court's ruling... but only on principle. As an operating effort, it appears NSE is dead. Another one killed by the entertainment industry.

Filed Under: censorship, copyright, europe, free speech, usenet
Companies: brein, news-service