From: rich@example.invalid   
      
   D  wrote:   
   >   
   >   
   > On Thu, 7 Nov 2024, Rich wrote:   
   >   
   >> Computer Nerd Kev  wrote:   
   >>> D  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 " 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.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)