Re: Netnews: The Origin Story

D <nospam@example.net> wrote:

 
 
On Thu, 7 Nov 2024, Rich wrote:
 

Computer Nerd Kev <not@telling.you.invalid> wrote:

D <nospam@example.net> wrote:

On Thu, 7 Nov 2024, Sn!pe wrote:

I think D is more concerned about anonymity than other considerations,
then about 'eavesdropping'.  I'm sure he'll tell us RSN.

>
This is the correct interpretation. I our times of polarization and
net-hating, having a modicum of anonymity and privacy is very nice.

>
That's not about Usenet being unencrypted then. Your identity is
equally compromised whether you post here via NNTP or NNTPS. But
you might still not be individually identifiable if you take other
measures to protect it.

>
Anonymity on Usenet is facilitated (in today's world) by the fact that
most every poster is using a "commercial" service [1] that does not
enforce strict naming requirements on the From: line contents.  By
having the freedom to post as "From: D <nospam@example.net>" in the
From: line, D has more anonymity than they would have had back in the
mid 90's when their Usenet access would likely have been via $job or
college, and both $job and college would most likely have enforced use
of a "real name and real email address" in the From: line.

 
That's a very good point and a very interesting historical
perspective.  Thank you very much for sharing.

It was very much reality.  Mid 90's, most internet users only had
access via either their employer or their college, as the very idea of
an ISP and/or "dialup internet" had not yet hit the general population
mindset.

And 'internet' access in those days was, more often than not, via a
shared shell account Unix workstation to which one would connect (via
one or more of VT100 style serial terminal or dialup modem to a Unix
terminal server).  One had one's choice of what software to run on
one's shell account (tin, rn, slrn, etc.) but the Usenet server to
which these all communicated on that Unix workstation/server was
controlled by the workstation sysadmin, and in almost all cases, it
enforced that your 'From:' line name in your Usenet posts was your
real, actual, identification on that server.

Which also meant if you posted something that someone took great
offense to, from your @mit.edu account, that the "offended" would
contact the mit.edu sysadmins, and the "offending" user would be "taken
behind the woodshed" as it may be.

Granted, "offended" individuals still can contact whatever usenet host
someone uses to access usenet and bitch up a storm (the necessary
headers are in every article).  But that same host, being in the
'business' of usenet access, is much less likely to care about "From:
Q@nowhere"'s offensive post than the @mit.edu folks would have been
back in the day.

And, of course, joe random stalker has a much harder time tracking down
"Q@nowhere"'s real life identity and location than he does in tracking
down the same for john.smith.iii@mit.edu.