AT&T Usenet Netnews Service Shutting Down
newsm...@bellsouth.net
Please note that on or around July 15, 2009, AT&T will no longer be
offering access to the Usenet Netnews service. If you wish to continue
reading Usenet newsgroups, access is available through third-party vendors.
Distribution: AT&T SouthEast Newsgroups Servers
Roy Hann
> Please note that on or around July 15, 2009, AT&T will no longer be
> offering access to the Usenet Netnews service. If you wish to continue
> reading Usenet newsgroups, access is available through third-party vendors.
>
> http://support.att.net/usenet
I don't have any idea how this particular move is going to affect
comp.databases.ingres in the short term, but AT&T is just the most
recent ISP to shut down its NNTP (Usenet) feed and the general trend
can't be good for c.d.i. As the habitat shrinks, the population will
shrink too.
I find web-based forums really hard work, and I also dislike the idea
of communication channel owned by a commercial interest and having
editorial control. (Imagine if CA had owned c.d.i!) Also, many people
can't get web-access at work at all. I guess our next best option is
going to be info-ingres (see
http://www.kettleriverconsulting.com/mailman/listinfo/info-ingres).
BTW, the reason all these ISPs are closing their Usenet feed is pressure
from various government bodies wanting them to prevent illegal
file sharing and sharing of illegal content via newsgroups.
Unfortunately the ISPs simply find in more convenient to stop the
service than to police it. (Oddly, there has been a long-standing rule
against posting binaries on non-binary newsgroups, so one would have
thought the Usenet would be the easiest channel to control, versus say
websites or P2P.)
--
Roy
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