Paul B. Gallagher wrote: > Beauregard T. Shagnasty wrote: >> Paul B. Gallagher wrote: >>> Beauregard T. Shagnasty wrote: >>>> You are getting a timeout because Verizon *killed* NNTP news >>>> service for its subscribers last year. You can blame New York >>>> State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo [1] for that. Other major ISPs >>>> did as well, notably AT&T. >>>> >>> Can you supply any links from reliable sources explaining that? I'm >>> not in NY, so I didn't get the memo, but I'm in line for Verizon >>> FiOS, so I may be at risk if what you're saying is true. >> >> Sure. Google is your friend. (You didn't believe me... <lol>) >> <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/86938/verizon-quits-free-usenet-access-sep-30th/> > > This one is not so clear. First, it talks about Usenet, which AFAIK > Mozilla news is not. Second, it says "specifically to the alt.bin and > alt.bain newsgroup hierarchies that provide actual data files," which > doesn't cover us either.
Well, okay, I guess access to the mozilla.* isn't affected - but that's only a couple dozen groups. What VZ, AT&T, Comcast, etc have done is they have closed down their *own* servers that mirrors the <mumble>-thousand of Usenet groups. >> <http://www.afterdawn.com/news/article.cfm/2008/06/15/verizon_shuts_down_access_to_usenet> > > This one is clearer, mentioning innocuous tech support groups by name. > > If the ISPs get enough complaints, they'll tailor their restrictions > narrowly as they should have in the first place. We complained bitterly (see AT&T below). Remember, we are among the 'less-than-2%' of ISP subscribers who even know what a newsgroup is. It's a very small voice, and it didn't work. >> ..many more. Google for: verizon cuomo usenet >> >> He did it to AT&T, Comcast, and others. Not just New York; the ISPs >> removed it nationwide. >> >> There will be no Usenet access with your FiOS. >> >> You're not 'at risk.' Just go get a free account at >> eternal-september.org or a €10/year account at news.individual.net >> which is very reliable. > > I never realized my ISP was even a party to these transactions; I > thought they were just a common carrier that transmitted whatever > data I sent or requested. Now, I don't go in for kiddie porn, but if > I wanted to download perfectly legal adult material I don't see what > business of theirs it would be. You can still go download pr0n, even kiddie pr0n if you want. You just ain't gonna get it from any server Verizon owns. The binary groups are still there, humming along nicely I suppose. All that was killed was the major ISP access via their servers. There is an unmentioned point here (but since you're looking for details) and that is the Cuomo Crusade gave the ISPs the *EXCUSE* to shut down their NNTP server farms, and *save a lot* of money, while blaming it all on the politically-ambitious NY AG. Nowhere in any of any ISP's publications did they publically admit this. I was an AT&T Worldnet subscriber until mid-2008. Our internal newsgroups (support, user-to-user support, general...) were staffed by employees. Keeping friendly watch on us chickens, so to speak. In private email, they told me it was the perfect reason for them to just pull the entire plug on providing Usenet for anyone. The AT&T guy said they would now save somewhere around 4 Terrabytes per day in bandwidth as well (the entire Usenet). If all you care about are the mozilla groups, you're in great shape. I thought you were interested in Usenet as well. Oh, and speaking of small voices, the nearly two million Worldnet subscribers are losing everything except their email on March 31st. Worldnet itself is going away. They must migrate their email to other AT&T brands (att.yahoo.com f'r ex) and give up their dialup access, personal web pages et al. I apologize for the length. -- -bts -Four wheels carry the body; two wheels move the soul _______________________________________________ support-seamonkey mailing list support-seamonkey@lists.mozilla.org https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/support-seamonkey