Lektion 3: Nyhetsgruppers diskussionsforum

Section 3: USENET Newsgroup Discussions

Overview

You might be wondering, What is USENET? The answer is: USENET is a discussion network that predates the world wide web. People have been using USENET Discussion since 1979. It is a extremely powerful discussion tool that can handle hundreds of million post per day. Many people do not know that they are using USENET. For example have you ever posted a message on Deja News, Google Groups, or configured a email application to view newsgroups on a NNTP or UUCP network? If so, then you have posted to a USENET newsgroup. There are many dangers involved with posting to USENET. In the following paragraphs we will detail all of the involved risks and also aid you in protecting yourself in the future.

 

The Message That Lasts Forever

One of the most dangerous things about USENET is that the posts are never deleted. You can still search through posts on Google Discussions that date back to the early 80's. If you post something on USENET make sure your ready for someone to read this information 20 years down the road. It is fairly easy to find discussions that certain individuals posted.

 

Unknown Viewers

USENET newsgroups are NOT private. They are accessible to anyone in the entire world. There is no way to tell who is reading your messages let alone who is tracking them.

 

How to Protect Yourself.

Protecting yourself on USENET takes a lot of self discipline. You will need to do a number of things prior to posting on a newsgroup. Here are a few tips to protect you in the future.

 

  • Create a private non-personalized e-mail account. ( See Section 2: Email Security )
  • Do not use your real name.
  • Do not use an email address which is tied to your real name or location.
  • Do not place your home address, phone number, social security number, personal web page url, or any other personal items in your messages.
  • Do not attach photos to your messages.

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    Your best defense is to create a virtual persona. Create a nickname or handle for yourself which is not easily guessable. If you are communicating with other abuse survivors make sure to leave the discussion and continue your discussions with your non-personalized email account.