How Usenet Users Get Away With Piracy And Why Companies Can't Stop It

[Chewy_fox]

The Amount Of Piracy On The Usenet 

Music and game piracy have slowly dwindled due to the efficiency and subscription models of major music and game service providers. However, movie and video downloads make up a large portion of the traffic on Usenet. The large traffic for movies largely relies on the ease of access. Searching and getting a free or inexpensive movie or piece of obscure content to index on search engines like Google can be sometimes difficult. The fact that they are larger files, more expensive, and more protected on the internet makes their piracy rampant on Usenet. 

Why Companies Can't Stop Infringement On The Usenet

Despite Hollywood movie companies suing newsgroups, these companies are usually helpless in their fight against copyright infringement. They cannot sue the service providers either because service providers are not liable for monetary relief for infringement on the platform. The only parties that can be sued or held liable are the users uploading and publicly trading the content, but they are hard to trace.  

The companies' courses of action are usually sending a DMCA to the Usenet service provider. They send it to the providers because the providers host the binaries that are the infringed content. Anyone can send the providers a DMCA, so it can also be a daunting task to distinguish between which request can be actionable. Even if the provider can remove the content, the content was most likely already propagated by other users, making it nearly impossible to track and stop. 

The infringed party also has to be able to track the one who uploaded and traded the content. This process costs time and money. It is often not worth it for individual cases as well. Sometimes, large groups commit large-scale piracy crimes, which can cause the company, government, or organization to get involved and take legal action. 

Why Usenet Pirators Are Untraceable 

Unlike the internet using a peer-to-peer network, the Usenet connects the user directly to one server, leaving the IP address and communication information only accessible to those servers and the Usenet service provider that hosts them. This accessibility of those servers and Usenet providers is usually completely hidden by a VPN bundle that the Usenet service provider provides.  

The network address and identifying information can be falsified and obscured, then the post is multiplied from reposts. Once the post is made, and all hiding actions are taken, the content can then be propagated by other members on different servers, making it even harder to stop.  

Even if the companies find the users, certain countries do not have restrictions on copywriting, so they may not have broken the law when they uploaded the post. If they are restricted, then action will be taken, but the content will most likely still be uploaded on other servers, and the action will only act as a deterrent but cannot stop other users from downloading the content. 

Can You Be Liable Using The Usenet 

There are certain things you should be wary about when using the Usenet. Still, there is a limited amount of action taken against users who download copyrighted material from the Usenet. The Usenet service provider normally provides protection to protect from various cybersecurity attacks but inadvertently protects your identity, so it is hard to track these downloaders. The ISP or Usenet provider cannot track where you go in the Usenet because they offer VPNs and SSL encryption with their newsreader services. This security prevents companies from telling the individual is downloading this content to where they cannot take action. 

There are too many people using this service for this purpose, making tracking and prevention a daunting task for organizations. Still, organizations are actively taking on some infringement cases in this area. This makes copyright infringement risky for the uploader and trader but less risky for the downloader. It is normally illegal to download copyrighted material and shouldn't be done based on the respected region's laws and code. 

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