Alt.* hierarchy: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 22:23, 3 January 2021

Revision as of 13:00, 12 June 2021

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==Censorship==

In June 2008, it was announced that [[Sprint Corporation|Sprint]] and [[Verizon Communications|Verizon]] would be cutting off access to the ''alt.*'' hierarchy to their subscribers, citing [[child pornography]] as the only reason. New York State Attorney General [[Andrew Cuomo]] claimed his office found child porn in 88 of the 100,000 groups that exist on ''alt.*''.<ref>[http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-9964895-38.html N.Y. attorney general forces ISPs to curb Usenet access] – Politics and Law – CNET News (June 10, 2008 12:09 PM PDT)Posted by Declan McCullagh</ref><ref>[http://uk.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUKN0930574820080611 Internet companies to block child porn sites] – (Technology) Reuters – Tue June 10, 2008 8:04pm BST (Reporting by Christopher Kaufman and Yinka Adegoke; Editing by Louise Heavens and Braden Reddall)</ref><ref>[http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-9967119-38.html Verizon offers details of Usenet deletion: alt.* groups, others gone] – June 12, 2008 11:37 AM PDT Posted by Declan McCullagh (The Iconoclast – politics, law, and technology) – CNET News.com</ref>

Verizon has not blocked ''alt.*'' from users, theybut havehas simply stopped maintaining the ''alt.*'' hierarchy on their own servers. Verizon subscribers can still access the ''alt.*'' hierarchy through a third-party Usenet service.

In the same time frame, AT&T's United States–based consumer dial internet service provider decommissioned their NNTP servers entirely, citing a combination of the above concerns and a putative decline in traffic volume which had accelerated beyond a statistical point of no return.