Giganews, a well know and respected Usenet provider, which has been providing Usenet service since 1994 made some major changes to their Usenet services plans recently. They dropped their monthly limit plans and just offer their Diamond plan now. You can get a year of service for $12.50/month if you prepay. The new pricing structure is as follows.

12 Months Prepaid Subscription – $12.50/month which equals $150/year
6 Months Prepaid Subscription – $14.99/month which is $179.88/year
1 Month Subscription  – $17.99/month

These prices are obviously still high as there are other service providers like Fast Usenet which offer Unlimited access for only $6.95/month. Fast Usenet is also currently offering A promotional offer for $4.95/month too. But it’s nice to see Giganews lower their prices and I’m sure they’ll pull in some new users that like to use their prestigious service.

On January 5th, 2018 Fast Usenet (Usenet Services, LLC) acquired Usenet Central. It appears that they are in the process of merging their services now. Over the years we’ve reviewed both Fast Usenet and Usenet Central and both provided great service. It became apparent that Fast Usenet was updated more frequently and the owners seemed to invest more time and effort into the service.

We aren’t surprised to see that Fast Usenet is starting to acquire Usenet providers such as Usenet World and Usenet Central.  Fast Usenet provides excellent service and we have rated them our favorite Usenet provider for the last 3 years. Read the review for their service here.

Twenty one years ago this August, the Windows 95 operating system launched to great fanfare around the world.

Now you can relive those heady days with a Windows 95 emulator that runs in your browser. Built by Andrea Faulds, a student at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, the emulator uses Emscripten and DOSBox to give you that authentic ’95 experience.

According to Faulds’ website, she started the project for the sake of nostalgia, and because it was fun. It will give users a chance to experience the birth of now well-known Windows features including the start menu and the task bar.
However, she writes the emulator is “strictly for educational purposes,” stating Windows controls all copyright to its software and she can’t guarantee users will not be infringing its rights by using the emulator.

“While Microsoft no longer sell Windows 95 as a retail product, nor do they still sell licenses or support for it (which ended on December 31, 2001), it is still very much protected by copyright law,” she writes. “I would argue that this might (and that is quite tenuous) be protected under United States fair use and United Kingdom fair dealing provisions, given that this is a non-commercial use for the purposes of research and education.”

If Windows sends a cease and desist letter, she’ll take it down.

Retro browsers are having a bit of a moment. In 2015, YouTuber Nick Lee used Mini vMac, an early Mac operating systems emulator, to get his Apple Watch to run the 1996 version of OS 7.5.5.

Launch the Emulator

Newshosting, a global leader in providing Usenet service worldwide, has officially announced (and we seen it coming) that they are now offering a VPN service along with premium Usenet access.

What is VPN

A VPN is an online encryption utility that allows users to control their IP address while providing high strength encrypted Internet privacy. A quality VPN provider also helps to remove online censorship and geographical restrictions, you are allowed to choose your IP address and online location.

Newshosting’s new service provides over 70+ servers in 17 countries. Anonymous IP addresses provide users with the following benefits.

• Unmetered VPN Bandwidth
• Unlimited Server Switching
• Two Simultaneous VPN Connections
• OpenVPN, L2TP, and PPTP Protocols
• Free software
• Direct Access to the Fastest Worldwide VPN Network
• 100% Online Identity and Data Protection

The Newshosting VPN service is included with Annual and XL Powerpack plans and is available as an add-on to any other Usenet plan. Customers can also choose to purchase a VPN-only account.

Having access to both Newshosting Usenet and VPN services provides highly secured transfers, allowing users to truly enjoy all that Usenet has to offer.

Learn more about Newshosting’s Usenet Service

Easynews, a premium NNTP and browser-based Usenet service provider, is now providing VPN service. As people continue to look for a way to increase their online privacy VPSs are becoming increasingly popular. Available for both current  subscribers and new customers seeking additional online privacy, the Easynews VPN will provide an encrypted connection, allowing members to change their IP address and add a layer of encrypted data protection.

Everyone can test the service when opting in for the free trial through May 12, 2015. In addition to encryption, VPN offers the following features and benefits:

• Free VPN service for Big Gig Subscribers
• Up to 1 month free trial for Classic and Plus plan users
• Helps avoid censorship blocks
• Allows region selection to eliminate geolocation restrictions
• 100% online Identity and data protection
• Free software
• Unmetered VPN bandwidth
• Two simultaneous VPN connections
• Direct access to the fastest worldwide VPN network
• Unlimited server switching
• OpenVPN, L2TP, and PPTP protocols

With more than 70+ servers in 17 countries, Easynews offers an expansive, affordable addition for Usenet subscribers. The Easynews VPN plan is free with the Big Gig plan, and is available as an add-on for Plus and Classic plan users for $2.99 per month after the trial period ends. VPN is also offered as a stand alone service, with pricing starting at $11.99 a month.

For our review of Easynew’s Usenet service click here.

Perfect 10 must pay $5.6m in legal fees following a failed copyright battle with Usenet provider Giganews . On the heels of a February ruling in which a California Court heavily criticized the adult publisher, this week Perfect 10 was described by a Judge as a serial litigator intended to function as a “tax write-off”.
Adult publisher Perfect 10 has developed a reputation for making a business out of suing Internet services for alleged copyright infringement.

In recent years the company has targeted Google, Amazon, MasterCard and Visa, RapidShare and Depositfiles, plus hosting providers LeaseWeb and OVH.

Perfect 10 has secured private settlements from several of these companies but has never succeeded in a contested court case. The company hoped that a new suit against Usenet provider Giganews would provide a much-needed victory, but the whole thing has turned into a disaster.

In November 2014 a ruling from the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California found that Giganews was not liable for the infringing activities of its users and last month Perfect 10 was roundly criticized for multiple failings by the same Court.

“Perfect 10 failed to produce any evidence supporting its claim of direct
infringement,” the Judge wrote, adding that it also “failed to produce any evidence supporting its claim of indirect infringement.”

Read more at Torrent Freak

The defunct News-Service.com, once one of the leading Usenet providers with many prominent resellers, has scored a court victory against Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN. The appeals court overturned a previous verdict and ruled that the Usenet provider doesn’t have to monitor and filter pirated content.
In 2009, Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN, representing the movie and music industries, took Europe’s largest Usenet provider News-Service Europe (NSE) to court.

Through the court BREIN demanded that NSE delete all infringing content from its servers, and in 2011 the Court of Amsterdam sided with the copyright holders.

The Court argued that NSE willingly facilitated copyright infringement through its services. In its verdict the Court ruled that NSE had to remove all copyrighted content, and filter future posts for possible copyright infringements.

Responding to the verdict the Usenet provider said that it was economically unfeasible to filter all messages. The company therefore saw no other option than to shut down its services while the appeal was pending.

This week the Appeals Court ruled on the case overturning the previous verdict, setting a more positive precedent for Usenet providers and similar services.

Read the full article at Torrent Freak

A federal court in California has ruled that Usenet service provider Giganews is not guilty of copyright infringement, nor can it be held responsible for customers who do pirate content. The case in question was brought by adult magazine publisher Perfect 10 which previously lodged similar complaints against Amazon, Google and RapidShare.
Adult magazine publisher Perfect 10 has made a business out of suing online services for allegedly facilitating copyright infringement.

Over the past several years the company has targeted a dozen high-profile companies including Google, Amazon, Yandex, MasterCard, Visa, RapidShare, Giganews and Depositfiles.

Aside from a few private settlements the company has yet to score its first victory in court. The company was confident that this would happen in their prolonged battle with Usenet provider Giganews, but late last week these hopes were shattered.

On Friday the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California ruled on several motions (1, 2, 3) regarding Giganews’ liability for copyright infringement, as well as the nature of its DMCA takedown process.

In its order the court confirms that there is no evidence that Giganews is directly involved in any infringing practices.

“A claim for direct copyright liability demands evidence that the defendant had a direct hand in causing the infringement. The undisputed evidence before the Court, however, demonstrates that Defendants had no direct causal role in the alleged infringement,” the order reads.

According to the Court, Perfect 10 confuses direct and indirect copyright infringement, as the company has presented no evidence that Giganews employees are engaged in distributing pirated content.

Furthermore, claims of indirect copyright infringement also failed. The Court didn’t accept that Giganews is liable for the alleged copyright infringements of its users, as there is no proof that the company enjoyed direct financial benefit from any Perfect 10 images its subscribers may have distributed….

Read the full article at Torrent Freak