As conspiratorial as it may sound, the only thing certain is that if this situation continues with our tolerance and apathy, we will be led into dark ages.
Many of you will have seen The Matrix and you will obviously also know the allegory with Plato's theory of the cave (watch the relevant video, if you don't know).
A group of people live their entire lives chained in a cave with a flame behind them. People spend their entire lives seeing only their shadows and believe that this is the real world. Someone who managed to get out of the cave, although impressed, preferred to return back. To the created world he had known inside the cave.
This is exactly what happens today, with the difference that in our case the flame has been replaced by the glow of the television screen.
In the world of the Matrix, the regime has created a new kind of virtual reality in which man can no longer distinguish whether he is experiencing reality or its simulation, thus preventing rebellion. Thus, a regime of intelligent machines keeps people enslaved to exploit their “bioelectricity”.
In our reality (?), the… intelligent machines are the technocrats and the absorption of bioelectricity could be equated with production (=work =labor force).
And in any case, the important thing is that people do not exchange anything with each other. No ideas, no texts, no books, no files. Nothing. The only things they will have to chew on are what the system gives them.
But, as in the Matrix, there are now also places on the internet where they cannot be controlled, they cannot be limited. Some places where people talk, exchange, organize.
These parts that are not known and visible, we will all soon have to learn about, as the internet we know is moving towards absolute control and immediate identification of users. What will be legal and what will not depend on those who have the power to make the laws. But we are, and should always be, on the other side. The side of this morality that the laws and the greedy people behind them do not have.
We consider it absolutely necessary to share among people, as that is where the knowledge will be located, which should be the right of everyone and not just predators.
The internet, even if in Greece, we have known it on a mass level for the last 10-12 years, exists decades later and its structure is such that the only way to control and silence it is to “unplug it”.
We have previously mentioned both the Deep Web that takes us to the dark sides of the internet, as well as Torrent sharing, but also any related issue concerning anonymity in our browsing and communications on the internet.
Today we will talk about something that the youngest may not know, but some older people will remember it and may have used it in those times or still continue to use it. We are talking about Usenet (information has been obtained from chdcomputers.gr).
The article includes everything you need to know about Usenet, its use, applications for it for both the desktop and your Android, so that you can get started:
What is Usenet:
It is a technology that comes from a very old (technologically) and specifically, somewhere in the early 1980s, which was created by two, then, graduate students of Duke University, Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis and was created on the same communication protocol that is based on e-mail and other functions of the internet.
Usenet users can read and “upload” (post) messages or files, which are called articles or posts, in one or more categories called “newsgroups”. In those times, this was also the way of communicating and exchanging information. The forums, of which Usenet was the precursor, came later.
The main difference between the respective systems and Usenet is the absence of a central server and a dedicated administrator. Posts on Usenet are distributed among thousands of servers around the world, which store the data and forward it to each other in such a way that it is impossible for a message to be “blocked” or deleted by everyone. The process of transferring data between servers is called “data flow” (news feeds).
Simply put, as soon as a user posts a message on Usenet, it immediately enters the feeds, resulting in it being copied to all Usenet servers in the world within a short period of time. No one can “interfere” in this process, not even the creator of the message. This means that once a post is made, it cannot be deleted, not even by its creator.
Each Usenet server stores the messages for a certain period of time, which varies from server to server. Others “keep” the posts for a few days and others for a few years. Also, if an administrator of a Usenet server decides to delete a post, he can only do so on his own server and the deletion is not transmitted. That is, a post deleted by one server remains intact on thousands of others. The same thing happens if one of the servers is destroyed, the entire usenet is simply not affected. This fact makes usenet a completely uncontrolled and impossible to censor information exchange system.
Usenet structure
The usenet system consists of three basic elements: a) The usenet servers. b) The newsgroups and c) The posts. Let's see what role each of these elements plays:
Usenet Server. This is a central computer (server) located somewhere in the world. Its job is to store and maintain for a certain period of time, on its hard drives, the posts made by usenet users in various newsgroups. The server must also maintain a list of all the newsgroups it has stored and finally its most basic mission is to synchronize its content with other usenet servers around the world. In order to access usenet content, someone must connect to a server.
Newsgroup. In Greek it is called “discussion group”. It is the organizational entity of posts. Imagine it as a file folder in which you place files related to a common topic. For example, the newsgroup “alt.binaries.music.classical” contains posts related to classical music. The creation of a newsgroup is done on one of the usenet servers, after a public discussion with interested users and then it is “broadcast” to the global usenet network.
Post. In Greek you will also find it as “post” or “article”. This is content that users create and then place in one or more newsgroups on the topic it deals with. Essentially there are two types of posts, text posts and binary posts.
As you can see, the structure of usenet is very simple. A user connects to one of the servers (either named or anonymous), then creates a post with the content they want and finally places it in one or more newsgroups. From the moment they make the post, they no longer have any control over it, nor can they delete or modify it. Within a few hours, this post will “go” to all usenet servers. This process is based on the same protocol that e-mail works on. Once you send an e-mail to someone, it is finished, and then you cannot delete it from the recipient’s server.
What is a post and what does it consist of:
The post is the final piece of information on usenet. Because usenet is based on the e-mail protocol, a post is very similar to an e-mail message. It consists of a subject, the body of the message, possibly an attached file and some information about its origin, the newsgroup it belongs to, etc.
There are essentially two types of posts. Those that contain only text and are called text posts and those that contain files and are called binary posts.
The anatomy of a text post is very simple, in its body is the text written by the user who “uploaded” it and in its subject there is a short description of what it contains.
Things get a little more complicated when it comes to binary posts. Because usenet is designed for transferring and storing text, it does not allow the transfer of files in their entirety. This has resulted in the development of various methods of embedding files within the text using various encoding algorithms. So posts containing large files (movies, music, etc.) can be split into parts, so-called multi-part posts. Don't be discouraged by this, today's access programs handle these details automatically.
usenet servers
Usenet servers are everywhere. In universities, in data centers of internet service providers (ISPs), in software companies and more, in users' homes and wherever else you can imagine. In fact, the number of usenet servers is unknown. Also, the servers change daily both in number and in locations. In general, however, there is a usenet server at every "interesting" access point. For example, Microsoft, IBM, Intel and other large companies have their own public usenet servers in order to provide their customers with more support points. Almost all ISPs (Internet Service Providers) have their own usenet server and most educational institutions also have their own server. Finally, there are companies that deal exclusively with providing access to usenet and have their own servers. As for the content that each server has, this depends on many parameters. First of all, it depends on the administrator of the specific server who decides which newsgroups it will include. It also decides what types of posts it will include (text or binary or both). Finally, it decides the length of time for which the posts will be kept. For example, the Otenet usenet server “hosts” about 30,000 newsgroups but only posts with text (not with files) and keeps them for about 2 years. Other servers, mainly commercial, host about 90,000 newsgroups with text and binary posts and keep the binary (with files) for about 2 years and the text for much longer. Access to the servers is either anonymous or named or limited by other factors. For example, on the Otenet server, access is allowed only to internet users of the company but without a password, while on most servers of educational institutions, access is free to everyone without passwords. Finally, on commercial servers, access is only for users who have a subscription and is done with a password.
When choosing a server, it is good to know the technical characteristics we should look for:
1. Binary Posts
The first feature is whether the server “hosts” binary posts. In our previous articles we learned that binary posts are those that contain files. Images, videos, sounds, programs, etc. Binary posts take up a lot of space on the hard drive (a high definition movie takes about 8 – 10GB) and for this reason they are not “hosted” on all servers. So if you are interested in “downloading” such files you should find a server that “hosts” binary posts. Usually free servers do not “host” binary posts or “host” very few compared to commercial ones.
2. Retention
A very important feature of a server is the retention of posts. Because several million posts are made on Usenet every day, many servers delete older posts in order to “accommodate” newer ones. This is especially true on servers with limited capacity. Retention is measured in days and varies depending on the server and the type of post. For example, text posts are retained for a longer period of time than binary posts. Usually on free servers the retention for text posts is around 1000 days while for binary posts it is only 1 – 5 days, on commercial servers the retention rises sharply reaching 4000 – 5000 days for text posts and 1000 – 2000 days for binary posts.
3. Completion
Completion is the third characteristic that a server must meet to be good. Completion is measured in percentage (%) and refers to the completed binary posts that are “hosted” on the server. Many binary posts (especially movies and DVDs) consist of many parts (multi parts posts), these parts are sometimes “uploaded” to the server on different dates, resulting in the risk that some of them will be deleted due to retention. Many servers, especially commercial ones, have special software that “keeps” these posts complete, so they can offer up to 99% completion.
4. Connection Speed
The internet today is defined by speed. A usenet server that doesn't have a fast internet connection is essentially useless. Fortunately, most servers have decent connection speeds, but connection speed is still one of the features you should look for.
5. Connection number
The number of simultaneous connections per user that a server supports is a very important factor in maintaining high download speeds. Most free servers offer 2-3 simultaneous connections per user, while commercial servers offer 15 or more.
6. Download limit
This is perhaps the most important feature when choosing a usenet server. The Download limit is the gigabytes per month that a user can “download”. It refers to binary posts and most free servers have very low limits, in the order of 1 – 2GB. On the other hand, commercial servers offer packages starting from 20GB up to unlimited.
7. Location
For users in small countries like Greece, the location of the server is particularly important. For example, if you find a server that offers very good features but is located in India, it will most likely be useless to you due to the slow connection speed that Greece has with India. For this reason, it is very important that the server you choose is in a country with which we have a direct connection, such as America and most large countries in Europe.
Theoretically, the best technical features are offered by commercial servers. However, this does not mean that free ones are not good. Basically, choosing a free or commercial server depends on the use you want to make.
If you are a user who is not interested in binary posts, that is, you want to use usenet to access text articles, then any free server is enough. You can also access many of the newsgroups via the Internet without needing a special client program. A very good example of such access is “Google Groups”.
On the other hand, if you are a user who is interested in “downloading” files by choosing from a huge variety at the highest speed that your connection can “catch” then choosing a commercial server is a one-way street. The packages offered by commercial servers are quite cheap and if you search a little you will discover, like us, that they are ultimately much cheaper and more reliable than other similar internet services such as rapidshare and other such sites. It goes without saying that usenet is not comparable to p2p networks and that it is much more reliable and faster.
Therefore, the choice of a usenet server depends on what you want to use it for. A commercial server is necessary for “downloading” files at high speeds, while for using text posts, any free server is sufficient. A commercial server costs money, but it is not much compared to what it offers, especially if you are a professional or an amateur but serious user of the category you are interested in.
Usenet Content
What one can find on Usenet can be summarized in a few words:
[box style=”black info rounded” ]Everything. What he imagines and what he doesn’t imagine![/box]
The fact that it is not controlled by anyone has led to it containing everything from articles with scientific information to any audio, image and video file you can imagine. Posts are made in one or more categories called newsgroups. Currently, there are about 100,000 newsgroups in the entire usenet, each hosting from a few dozen to a few million articles. Newsgroups are organized in a hierarchical structure that “indicates” what type of posts are contained in each newsgroup. For example, one of the usenet newsgroups is microsoft.public.excel.programming, from its name we can understand that it has been created by Microsoft, that it is public, that it refers to Excel and finally that it contains posts about Excel programming. Another example is alt.comp.hardware.overclocking which starts with the word alt which is an abbreviation for the word alternate. The alt category is the most popular on usenet as it has not been created by any company or other organization but by the users themselves, therefore everyone has access. In our example we see that the newsgroup alt.comp.hardware.overclocking refers to computers (comp(uters)), hardware issues and contains posts about overclocking.
Some other examples of newsgroups are: alt.binaries.hdtv which contains posts about high definition television programs, alt.binaries.dvd which contains posts about movies that have been released on dvd, alt.binaries.games.pc which contains posts about games for pc, alt.binaries.games.xbox which contains posts about games for xbox, alt.binaries.mp3 which contains posts about audio files in mp3 format, etc.
Pros and cons of Usenet
The fact that usenet is uncontrolled, like most of the internet, creates various advantages and disadvantages. Imagine for example a fast highway without any restrictive measures or policing. The main advantage is that you can run as fast as you want and get to your job quickly but on the other hand there is the risk of a serious traffic accident. This is exactly how usenet is. On the one hand you can find valuable information and files on almost everything but on the other hand you can “stumble” on illegal or dangerous content.
Advantages of usenet:
Huge amount of information.
Anonymous access.
Ability to “download” files at the highest possible speed.
Ability to discuss and exchange opinions and knowledge with other users.
There is no censorship or other type of control.
Ability to access securely via SSL.
Disadvantages of usenet:
Large amounts of offensive, illegal, dangerous and useless content.
Access to the servers that maintain the most posts for the longest period of time is not free (premium servers).
There is no possibility of verifying a post. For example, if you find an article with instructions for making a medicine, it is not possible to
verify its validity unless the author himself provides all the necessary information for this purpose.
Most of the information is in English.
In general, usenet “inherits” the same requirements of attention and evaluation, from the user's point of view, that the entire internet has. That is, you are responsible for evaluating every piece of information you receive from it. After all, in this case we are talking about a case from the “Deep Internet”, so some things that apply there also have to do with Usenet, which, after all, predates all the others.
Access to usenet:
Access to the content (posts) of usenet is done through special programs called usenet clients or news clients. There are many programs for this purpose, some are free and others are paid. There is also the possibility of accessing some newsgroups through websites that are made specifically for this purpose. In general, access to usenet varies depending on what information you want to see and whether you want to participate in the discussions or not.
However, the most successful "recipe" for accessing usenet is the following:
Download and install a usenet client.
Find the appropriate server (depending on the content you are interested in).
Configure the server in the access program.
Select the newsgroups you want.
“Download” the content you want.
Applications for Usenet:
Some well-known applications are Unison and GrabIt, on OSX and Windows, respectively. Considering that at the time when the internet and technology were developing, Unix was dominant, but that later a large part of Linux was also developed through Usenet, it is easy to understand that something like this exists both in Linux and in any other Unix based operating system, even through the command line. However, because we are talking about something that should be accessible to everyone, applications with a graphical interface are also available, so that we can access the chaotic Usenet, our interest lists, search and download or upload material, as well as chat with other people of the same interests.
On Linux, there are several applications of this kind, but I think LottaNZB and Pan Newsreader stand out, with the first one standing out.
For the second one, I'm not sure if it's available in all distributions' package managers (it probably should be), but LottaNSB will find it if you search for it by name in your distribution's package manager (Software Center, Yum, Yast, Synaptic, Software Manager, etc.).
You can also download it from its website, where it also has ready-made packages for many distributions (double-click once downloaded to install):
For Ubuntu and derived distributions, you can click on the following link:
UCS
You can then call it from your menu, or via dash in Ubuntu.
Just give it the addresses of some usenet servers (if you search the internet for usenet servers list, you will find a lot of material), but as we said, you can also use the one from the University of Athens (ntua.gr):
The reception and transmission control is available in the application's toolbar, where you can see the progress of the status:
The application will also give you an icon in your panel for quick access, while from its settings you can make micro-interventions, as well as activate plugins:
-See it in action:
There is also the very remarkable Kwooty, a friendly NZB usenet binary downloader, available in the KDE graphical environment that can handle automatic extraction, file repair, multi-server support, smart par2 download, scheduler shutdown, etc. (see its presentation).
Meanwhile, if you are interested in TV series, then Sick Beard will help you, as it is a PVR for newsgroup users, with specific torrent support. It watches for new episodes of your favorite TV series and once it is published, it downloads them, renames them and optionally creates metadata for them (see its presentation).
Of course, you can install it on any environment and distribution, as it is a remarkable and very fast download manager.
Some specialized search engines will also help you, many times.
-For Android, there are several apps, but I can't recommend anything, it depends on your device and your needs: Usenet Apps for Android.
In conclusion:
Usenet is a part of the internet and has existed almost since its beginning. It contains huge amounts of information accessible to everyone. It is not possible to control it by any central authority, making it a place for the free exchange of opinions, files, thoughts, etc. On the other hand, it hosts content that for many may be offensive, useless, dangerous and even illegal. If you decide to proceed into its world, you should be above all careful and suspicious.
If you are a bit of a "worried" spirit and you like the fact of participating in such a community, then you can continue discovering usenet. If you are one of those who think that with one click they will "download" everything without effort and time, then it is better to leave it. In general, usenet is not the most suitable place for someone who simply wants to "search" the internet and if they see something interesting, they "download" it.
In practice, it is not difficult to use and if you start using it, you will enter a new world of information, where you will essentially discover the internet, behind the internet!
The video below will also help you see the difference compared to Torrents and Usenet:
The amazing article was published by osarena.net
