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May I add another 'No, it's not!' to the comments?

ISP-based usenet has always sucked. The retention was lowsy, the propogation was poor (if they even let you post) - or they simply outsourced to one of the Big 3 [giganews,usenetserver,eweka.nl] [http://top1000.org/#stats]

For those of us who know about it, Usenet is thriving - there's more data passing through it than ever. GN is adding 240days of binary retention (which is insane)

With the combination of NZB files [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NZB], and SSL, you'd be nuts to ever use a torrent again.
Speed + security + real files.

There are bunch of services:

Combined:
BitNabber.com [Combines NZB + SSL Usenet access]

Usenet only:
Giganews.com [240 days retention, SSL]
Supernews.com [Cleanest / most spam free usenet server]
UsenetServer.com [Solid service, SSL]

NZB Services:
http://www.newzleech.com/ [Free, but automatic, so results will vary]
http://www.binsearch.info/ [Free, also automatic, but with SSL]

NewzBin.com - [Premium + Invite only, but the goliath of NZB sites]

The obit is premature. Usually when a service "dies" it would mean it's no longer available, but anyone can still buy usenet access here, here, here, here, here, here, here, or here.
And that is by no means a complete list. If anything, usenet may actually return to a more usable medium again, now that it won't be free for all the spammers and trolls anymore. Then again, it may well not -- it's not like all the illegal traders will just give up and go away, so I guess it depends on how much money the **IA, the BSA, and the morality police want to spend on "eradicating the problem".

These guys do it right:

http://www.usenetserver.com/en/dmca.php

And no marketing of anything other than specs on the entire site, as far as I can tell.

Usenet.com got greedy and stupid.

Giganews is the most expensive usenet server provider. Does that mean they are the best? possibly.
I use Usenetserver which is only $13 a month if you buy in 3 month increments. They still have 100 day+ 99%+ retention and very high uptime. Oh and a good search engine, which you will need.

I switched to Usenetserver a couple years ago. Back when I switched, Giganews was expensive, around $45 for 30 GB / month. I think at one point headers were also counted against your limit. Their prices have dropped and they're offering unlimited downloads, but Usenetserver's still cheaper.

I was trying to compare this to what a typical large usenet providers might have. Although the delivery method is different, the usage patterns are about the same. They have massive amounts of bandwidth and storage that would probably dwarf any porn web site. I can not find any current usenet providers equipment lists but in the past, the norm was nothing more then a few Sun boxes. usenetserver.com has some actual stats online like total connections and outbound bandwidth but they mention nothing about the actual quantity of equipment other then "multiple redundant spools load balanced on a solid UNIX Server architecture".

Take one part Usenetserver account ($3.00 a day for a 3 day trial, or $15.00 a month), and mix liberally with one part NewzBin usenet archiving service. Add your favorite y-enc enabled newsreader to flavor to taste. Serves an entire campus, until your OIT decides to block port 119.

I use Usenet Server its like $13 a month for unlimited 3Mbit downloads, has great retention and I've done 50+gigs in a month and never heard a peep from them.

I use a usenet service that respects my right to privacy by not keeping access logs.

That's probably about as anonymous as I'm going to get without being my own usenet feed.

P2P networks always seemed very a very promiscous and un-anonymous way to share legally-dubious files.

The alt.binaries.* heirarchy of the usenet, on the other hand, appears to contain about 99% copyrighted material. The people primarily at risk are those posting the copyrighted material. Most posters take some precautions: when I examine the headers it seems like they go through NNTP servers that offer anonymity and privacy, such as usenetserver.com. (They claim to keep posting logs for 48 hours as a way to controlling spammers... Of course if the MPAA came with a subpoena, they'd certainly have to turn them over to them.)

My perception is that downloaders of Usenet binaries are subject to considerably less risk, as there is no public log of NNTP downloads. While ISPs may log them, I can't imagine a judge granting the MPAA a subpoena for checking an ISPs download logs just to go fishing.

It is really astonishing how many terabytes get posted to alt.binaries.* per day.

By the way, I routinely stress-test my new hardware using alt.binaries.*. I don't really even know what the binaries are, I just pick a few files, and start trying to reassemble the pieces. This seems to crash my potential production servers faster than anything.

Do you think the MPAA will be knocking at my door?

-tomRakewell

Please adjust to the realities of bandwidth cost. Here's one of the more reasonable pricelists for pure Usenet usage. They charge $44.95 for one month of Usenet. Bring your own connection.

You may not like getting a gig a day of Usenet at no extra charge to your broadband, but I like it...I also subscribe to EZNews, but I only have to pay them for 6 gigs a month, cause I get most of my filez from my ISP's server.

When an ISP gives you webspace, they don't hand you your own server. What an ISP "owes" its users is defined by the market (what the competition offers, what is affordable/profitable, etcetera), not your concept of what is appropriate.

I'll jump along with UseNet Server then :) I've used them for years and can only say good things ... _extremely_ fast response times when mailing support ...

usenetserver.com (and i'd imagine most others) for eg doesn't keep logs of who posted what, so any trail back to you is broken there.

Need someone to start a comp.software.persecuted newsgroup for all these types of things.

It would also seem a good way to distribute as it will be mirrored worldwide very quickly after being posted.

... and UseNet. I don't see where else you'll find the same info as you do in sci.crypt as an example.

UseNet dead? Oh no - we just don't have to put up with all the newbies ;)

For a good news service - have a look at UseNet Server.com - I get my feed from there.