Reading & POSTING to the USENET without permission to install an NNTP client

[Cary Williams]

This may be a dumb question simply because the answer is probably
that only Google Groups' web interface can read and write to the
USENET from a public library machine ... but here goes ...

While I mostly read & write to USENET using a bona-fide NNTP client
on my own PC, sometimes I want to access the USENET from a machine
(e.g., at the library), which does not have a USENET client already
installed & configured.

In those cases, the only way I know of to read and write to the USENET
is via the Google groups web interface (http://groups.google.com).

But, is there any other nntp interface to the USENET other than
Google Groups which can POST to the USENET without having the
permissions to install & configure an NNTP client?

For example, do the common free news servers work with nntp urls?
nntp://host:port/groupname/article-number

NOTE: I do realize that one can telnet to the nntp protocol; but
that's too difficult a user interface, e.g.:
$ telnet server 119
-> read
-> post

QUESTION:
How do you POST to the USENET from a public library machine?
(without having an nntp client installed & configured)

[Jeff-Relf.Me]

You can buy a web interface to Usenet. Quote: ＜＜

You can use Easynews web interface to search for content,
preview and download directly from your web browser. ＞＞

http://www.newsgroupreviews.com/web-usenet.html

[Steve Bonine]

On 5/1/13 2:24 AM, Cary Williams wrote:

> While I mostly read & write to USENET using a bona-fide NNTP client
> on my own PC, sometimes I want to access the USENET from a machine
> (e.g., at the library), which does not have a USENET client already
> installed & configured.

You might try bringing an NNTP client on a USB stick. There are a
number of reasons this might not work depending on the configuration of
the public computer and the ports that it can access, but it would be an
interesting experiment.

> QUESTION:
> How do you POST to the USENET from a public library machine?
> (without having an nntp client installed & configured)

Strikes me that the only reason anyone who has "bona-fide" access to
Usenet would use a public library machine would be to cover their tracks.

[MartinS]

Or, they're away from home and don't have a wireless device with them.

--
Martin S

[Addison]

MartinS wrote on Wed, 01 May 2013 16:07:21 -0400:

>> Strikes me that the only reason anyone who has "bona-fide" access to
>> Usenet would use a public library machine would be to cover their
>> tracks.
>
> Or, they're away from home and don't have a wireless device with them.

Maybe they're simply at the library.
And, for some reason, they wish to read and post to USENET.

No sinister intent required.
Plus, libraries usually require you to use your own library card.

If they had sinister intent, they wouldn't do it from a public library
anyway - they'd drive around at night to glom onto someone else's weak
WEP-encrypted router or even open wireless router, which is easy enough
nowadays.

No logs. No library card.

[Steve Bonine]

On 5/1/13 4:18 PM, Addison wrote:
> MartinS wrote on Wed, 01 May 2013 16:07:21 -0400:
>
>>> Strikes me that the only reason anyone who has "bona-fide" access to
>>> Usenet would use a public library machine would be to cover their
>>> tracks.
>>
>> Or, they're away from home and don't have a wireless device with them.
>
> Maybe they're simply at the library.
> And, for some reason, they wish to read and post to USENET.

The initial post implied that this was not a casual one-time event:

"While I mostly read & write to USENET using a bona-fide NNTP client
on my own PC, sometimes I want to access the USENET from a machine
(e.g., at the library), which does not have a USENET client already
installed & configured."

> No sinister intent required.

No, but someone who "mostly" accesses Usenet from home is unlikely to
have a sudden strong urge to access it at the library using a Usenet
client. This is an activity that requires significant pre-planning, not
just someone who is so addicted to Usenet that they can't be away from
it for a few hours.

> Plus, libraries usually require you to use your own library card.

But that doesn't stamp the Usenet article that you create with your name
or the number on your library card. If someone actually did want to
trace back your article, they would need the library to check their
signout logs and link the specific computer with its usage by a specific
person. In some cases this might not even be possible, and even if it
was I would expect libraries to push back pretty hard before responding
to such a request.

> If they had sinister intent, they wouldn't do it from a public library
> anyway - they'd drive around at night to glom onto someone else's weak
> WEP-encrypted router or even open wireless router, which is easy enough
> nowadays.

But it's much more pleasant to do so in the comfort of the local library.

> No logs. No library card.

No heat.

[Emmett BADASS Gulley]

On May 1, 6:58 pm, I Bought DataBasix <ow...@databasix.com> wrote:

> McDonalds has wireless. You don't NEED a library to do something
> sinister.  Just ask Emmett Gulley. Oh wait, don't, he's been
> formosa'd.

NO i have NOT been formosa'd because you are still talking about me.
That makes your formosa VOID and DENIED
> --
> ow...@databasix.com

[Addison]

Steve Bonine wrote on Wed, 01 May 2013 17:50:25 -0500:

> No, but someone who "mostly" accesses Usenet from home is unlikely to
> have a sudden strong urge to access it at the library using a Usenet
> client.

I don't understand that statement.

If I mostly drink coffee at home, why wouldn't I have a sudden desire
to drink a cup of coffee at the library?

If I mostly read technical material at home, why wouldn't I suddenly
have a desire to read a technical document at the library?

If I mostly watch youtube videos at home, why wouldn't I suddenly
feel like watching youtube videos at the library?

[Brett Thompson]

On Wed, 01 May 2013 17:50:25 -0500, Steve Bonine wrote:

> If someone actually did want to
> trace back your article, they would need the library to check their
> signout logs and link the specific computer with its usage by a specific
> person.

Do you also worry that alien beings are watching over us at
this very moment?

[Whiskers]

On 2013-05-01, Cary Williams <CaryWi...@obfuscated.com> wrote:

[...]

>
> QUESTION:
> How do you POST to the USENET from a public library machine?
> (without having an nntp client installed & configured)

If you don't want to use Google Groups, go to
<http://www.dmoz.org/Computers/Usenet/Feed_Services/> and
<http://www.dmoz.org/Computers/Usenet/Public_News_Servers/> and search for
those NSPs who offer a web interface, choose one, and set up an account.

<http://www.dmoz.org/Computers/Usenet/Web_Based/> might be of interest too.

--
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
-- Whiskers
-- ~~~~~~~~~~

[Sir Gregory Hall, Esq�]

"Cary Williams" <CaryWi...@obfuscated.com> wrote in
message news:5180c342$0$80488$afc3...@read01.usenet4all.se...

[trim]

> QUESTION:
> How do you POST to the USENET from a public library machine?
> (without having an nntp client installed & configured)

Use one of the free Mail2News servers.
Get a free SMTP server and configure it into
a client like Quicksilver. Google Mail refuses
to do M2N so forget about Gmail.

Just do away with remailer chains in the QS
client. You won't have anonymity but that doesn't
seem to be a concern anyway.

Here is what the headers would look like in
Quicksilver:

Fcc: outbox
Host: smtp.freeSMTP.com (this is a fictitious smtp addy)
From: j...@lfreeSMTP.com (also fictitious)
Copies=2
To: mail...@m2n.mixmin.net, mail...@dizum.com
X-No-Archive: Yes (optional)
Newsgroups: alt.free.newsservers
Subject: Usenet posting

--
Sir Gregory

[Nil]

On 01 May 2013, Whiskers <catwh...@operamail.com> wrote in
news.software.readers:

> If you don't want to use Google Groups, go to
> <http://www.dmoz.org/Computers/Usenet/Feed_Services/> and
> <http://www.dmoz.org/Computers/Usenet/Public_News_Servers/> and
> search for those NSPs who offer a web interface, choose one, and
> set up an account.
>
> <http://www.dmoz.org/Computers/Usenet/Web_Based/> might be of
> interest too.

Of the ones mentioned on dmoz.com, you can forget about recgroups.com.
I've been trying to register there for several weeks - I never get a
confirmation, which is required to proceed, and they don't respond to
messages posted through their contact form. Looking at the site,
there's no sign of it being attended to since 2005. I think the lights
are on but no one's home.

[Sharky]

Emmett BADASS Gulley wrote:

>NO i have NOT been formosa'd because you are still talking about me.
>That makes your formosa VOID and DENIED

You should consider your obsession with fake wrasslin', and how you
use their technique for apocryphal drama to communicate your real
life* nightmare.



* no relation to emutworld

[I R A Darth Aggie]

On Wed, 01 May 2013 09:13:32 -0500,
Steve Bonine <s...@pobox.com>, in

<aucm8c...@mid.individual.net> wrote:
> On 5/1/13 2:24 AM, Cary Williams wrote:
>
> > While I mostly read & write to USENET using a bona-fide NNTP client
> > on my own PC, sometimes I want to access the USENET from a machine
> > (e.g., at the library), which does not have a USENET client already
> > installed & configured.
>
> You might try bringing an NNTP client on a USB stick. There are a
> number of reasons this might not work depending on the configuration of
> the public computer and the ports that it can access, but it would be an
> interesting experiment.

Indeed. I would guess that slrn can manage this, but any news client
that can be packaged up as a portable application should work.

> > QUESTION:
> > How do you POST to the USENET from a public library machine?
> > (without having an nntp client installed & configured)

An alternative would be to have a bootable linux USB stick with a news
client properly configured. Of course, that means you'll have to
reboot the machine from the usb stick, and the librarians might frown
upon that.

> Strikes me that the only reason anyone who has "bona-fide" access to
> Usenet would use a public library machine would be to cover their tracks.

Fortunately, we all live in a world were our individual governments
would not track us down, arrest us, then ship us off to the gulag for
re-education because we dared to espouse "incorrect thoughts".

That was so 20th century.

--
Consulting Minister for Consultants, DNRC
I can please only one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow
isn't looking good, either.
I am BOFH. Resistance is futile. Your network will be assimilated.

[Keith McElroy]

In article <7234ce1c-9a4c-4dfd...@r3g2000yqe.googlegroups.com>,

LOL! Funny how that worked out isn't it Emmett.
That "formosa'd" device is about as effective in keeping anybody's words
on the outside, as a screen window full of holes.

[Shmuel Metz]

In <aucm8c...@mid.individual.net>, on 05/01/2013

at 09:13 AM, Steve Bonine <s...@pobox.com> said:

>Strikes me that the only reason anyone who has "bona-fide" access to
>Usenet would use a public library machine would be to cover their
>tracks.

If they're on the road and don't have a laptop or tablet, they might
legitimately want to use a hotel or library computer. BTDT, GTTS.

--
Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz, SysProg and JOAT <http://patriot.net/~shmuel>

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