Usenet Providers security
Is it save to use identifying information (credit card, PayPal) for paying a Usenet provider? I'm especially interested in thecubenet.com and easynews. Have there been any incidents where someone got into trouble for downloading copyright protected content from a provider?
Also should I use a VPN for downloading even when SSL is enabled?
Thanks in advance :)
You are buying a legal service to access Usenet. What you do with that service is up to you.
Pick a provider that allows you to use crypto if you are worried about putting your identity to it: https://usenetnow.net/cryptoaccept/
They even allow monero!
Edit: I wish they had a referral plan, by now after recommending them so much I easily would have got a free month
I like that they have XMR and no middlemen. I use usenight, which does take crypto but has neither of those features - but costs $20/yr instead of $20/quarter.
Usenight is full speeds only at certain times of the day right? Plus the retention isnt as high so that is probably the price difference. Frugalusenet and Blocknews also take crypto the same way (same owners) and price is a bit more reasonable if you dont need the super high retention all the time but yes i agree about crypto. if you have to use a payment processor for it it sort of defeats the purpose.
usenight
:O This is too perfect for Australians! Pity its only 29xx days retention, but still pretty damn good.
no big deal to pay with whatever. could change down the line of course. if paranoid just use crypto or mail them your payment. your providers wouldnt be my first choice, any reason you chose them?
I'm testing frugal right know and ist working fine but it seems to miss some content. So I took a look at the promotions page on r/Usenet and these two providers would be really cheap while being on different backbones. But I'm probably going to be alright with the yearly frugal subscription with the block account added
they all "miss" some content. if it has been taken down from usenet you may just have to look for a repost, seems like everything is reposted 8 different times. if its missing cause its to old then maybe you need the blocknews block for full retention like you said.
My understanding is that Usenet providers are responsible for making sure they don't distribute any copyrighted content to you unless they have a license or some other exception to copyright applies.