From: jeffj@panix.com   
      
   >>> "Starting on February 22, 2024, you can no longer use Google Groups ...   
      
   >> That's so typical Google - killing services at a whim.   
      
   That's because we're not the customer, the advertisors/underwriters are.   
   We're just the free source of the content that Google "monetizes".   
      
   > Most Internet Service Providers   
   > killed off their free Usenet access years ago   
      
   a) because that required the ISP to run a server.   
   b) phone companies are allowed "common carrier" status:   
   they're not responsible for the content of the phone calls,   
   just as the post office is not responsible for what's in the envelope.   
   They just deliver the contents.   
   Somehow USENET providers were NOT granted that immunity,   
   so they didn't want to risk the liability of people misbehaving with their   
   postings :-(   
      
   > (as well as free email and website space), and yet   
   >continue to charge more and more money for less and less services.   
      
   It's not free if you're paying a monthly fee.   
   It WAS a contractual obligation until the ISP felt like eliminating the   
   service.   
      
   So now that the ISP is not running the email or web server,   
   where's that budget going?   
      
   That further forces folks to use Google or Yahoo for their "free" email   
   and post articles behind walled-gardens such as Facebook   
   (who "monetize" all that free content).   
      
   The burning of the library of Alexandria is NOTHING compared to all the   
   knowledge lost   
   when Yahoo groups, Delphi Forums, GEnie roundtables ... shut down   
   with no consideration for archiving.   
      
      
   --   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)