Downloading in College

hirako
Thu, 23 Jul 2009 12:31:58 +0000

For anyone interested in frequently updated news/information on Usenet (as well as all kinds of other file sharing mechanisms), check out [Slyck[/url] on a regular basis. Something I just found is this [url=http://www.slyck.com/Newsgroups_Guide_Super_Quickstart]Newsgroups Super Quickstart Guide](http://www.slyck.com/), which seems to suggest that you can get a **free trial/b from Giganews, who also has this seemingly useful [Usenet University](Usenet and Newsgroup Tutorials | Usenet University | Giganews) tutorial series.



jaybe1989:

My school has a public wi-fi anyone can connect to, provided they log in with a valid email address.

If I were to create a completely uncompromising email account, clear my cookies consistently, would I be able to use this as means to “obtain” my digital fun?

Yes, you’d be fine. If you’re extremely paranoid, you might also want to spoof your wireless chipset’s MAC address.



jaybe1989:

Can a university see that you are using Usenet and thus bring the banhammer

I think what you’re not realizing is that the university couldn’t care less what you’re downloading. Any and all copyright infringement accusations students have run into were originally brought up by the copyright holder.

Copyright holders determine whether you’re violating their copyrights by looking for IP addresses that are accessing their material via P2P networks (they connect to the network just like any other user would to get your IP address so they can upload to/download from you). The copyright holders don’t have some magical access to that information.

Since Usenet is not P2P (you are only connecting to the Usenet provider’s server(s)), there is no way for them to get your IP address (Usenet providers don’t retain IP addresses after transfers are completed, so that copyright holders can’t get that information).



jaybe1989:

how is services like astraweb going to be effected by being now targeted by the RIAA, etc.?

I don’t exactly follow all the legal shenanigans that closely, but AFAIK, Astraweb’s never been targeted by the RIAA. Either way, if they were to get caught/shut down, you would be completely safe.



jaybe1989:

Basically, is Usenet a safe option to use at a University?

Yes, I would say that it is probably the safest and most definitely the fastest and easiest option for college students.



kingsham:

quick question…what if i was to get on a website(forums) and then download from sites such as mediafire, zshare, rapidshare, and megaupload…that wouldnt be a big problem would it?

Nope, you’d be fine.