[ale] Free USENET servers !?

[jknapka at kneuro.net (JK)]

Jeremy Phillips wrote:
> I tried out a couple free USENET servers a couple months back and was
> always worrying about the security. It seems to me like that would be a
> common playground for credit card thieves and whatnot. 
> 
> Can anyone shed any insight on the dangers of free vs. paid USENET
> servers?


All Usenet servers receive feeds of all the newsgroups they provide. 
Period, end of story.  To a first order of approximation, anything you 
post on Usenet is available to everyone on Usenet.

The best way to avoid giving sensitive information to a Usenet group is 
not to post it.  The best way to avoid giving sensitive information to a 
Usenet provider is to use a free provider that doesn't require you to 
give them any sensitive information.


> And secondly, any free service recommendations?


I use nntp.aioe.org, and am reasonably happy with them.  They carry the 
alt.* hierarchy, which is important to me.  They *don't* carry any 
binary groups, which I don't care about.

-- JK

-- 
I do not particularly want to go where the money is -
  it usually does not smell nice there. -- A. Stepanov