this post was submitted on 13 May 2025
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Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ
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I personally ditched torrenting completly. Haven't touched a torrent in literal years.
Usenet is the way for me. Still using via Mullvad nonetheless.
@RandomLegend @therantechguy how can I try usenet?
You can come over to https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/c/usenet_invites and post a [W] for any indexer (popular ones are DrunkenSlug)
Otherwise if you want content in german language you can look up houseofusenet and see if you can register there.
@RandomLegend many thanks, I'll give it a try on the weekend
Worth noting that DrunkenSlug is just the indexer. It doesn’t actually provide any of the Usenet access. Just like The Pirate Bay allows you to search torrents, but you need a torrent program to actually download anything. In order to actually use DrunkenSlug, you need a subscription to a Usenet provider.
It costs money.
It probably requires a subscription to a Usenet provider. ISPs used to provide this service in the states, but I haven't seen that in a long time. Search for USENET PROVIDER or NEWSGROUP PROVIDER to find a service.
You'll need a service that has 'binary' groups. It will also need to provide access to specific groups that people use for games. There are many, many binary groups, and not all providers give you access to all the groups (for good reasons). Something with 'gamez' or 'warez' in the group title is a good start.
You'll need newsreader software. I used Forte Agent back in the day. I'm sure there are better readers out there now. It should have NZB support, and PAR file support is important (you'll want to look up those terms to learn about them).
Usenet is more complicated than torrenting, but I wouldn't bother with a VPN on Usenet. Since you'll have a login for access, a VPN wouldn't help. But in this case the law enforcement target would be the Usenet provider, not the users.
@DemBoSain thank you for the pointers! I'll do my research.
What are the advantages of usenet when it comes to your security? Given that you're using VPN anyway. But with usenet you also need to find a way to pay anonymously for it, otherwise what's the point?
The point is that you can download stuff without uploading it at the same time.
I don't have to share copyrighted material in order to download it. That's the big advantage.
To add to that: The “sharing” part is what’s prohibited in German law. (Remember: when torrenting you also upload chunks of the data to others.) The pure download is kind of a grey area and won’t be prosecuted.
Exactly - should've mentioned that.
That's why i feel much more safe using Usenet. Also, the fractured nature of usenet makes it more resilient to prosecutors to actually pinpoint anything.
Just wanted to point out that downloading is no longer a grey area since an EU ruling a couple of years ago. Streaming as well as downloading from unauthorized sources is plainly illegal - you're right about it being very unlikely to be prosecuted for it.
Usenet is generally better for 0-day and recent releases, but it doesn't hold a candle to P2P when it comes to older stuff. What's the max retention you get with the most premium plan with reputable providers these days? I think it was 13 years last time I checked. But aside from that, it's almost always faster than P2P (unless you have a bad connection to the server from your location) and certainly more convenient in certain categories like movies and TV shows. I still use P2P for games, software, and music though.
Edit: Forgot we were talking primarily about security. Of course Usenet is better in that regard as well. The other replies explain why that's the case.
Hm, so usenet might be a bad idea if I were looking for old RPG rulebooks and adventure collections for Das Schwarze Auge, for example? That's too bad, I had considered signing up just for that, as the selection on Anna's archive is most incomplete.
Sign up and test it.
I am with you here when it comes to older stuff
I have the fortune to be of the "Lan-party" generation and still have a big group of people i know keep ageold games, movies, etc. So if i need something i can usually get it from them... then it's a matter of VPN into their network and use ftp.
But usually i don't really look for old stuff. But thats a "me" thing. I know this will not work for everyone... also, yeah despite the retention being "only" 13 years, i do find stuff that got reupload quite usually.
I am searching for very old audiobooks and i still find most of them on usenet despite some of them being well over 20 years old now.
Speed is unfathomably fast though. I have a 1gbit/s connection at home and i can download with ~900 mbit/s through the VPN
Good advice, that I would definitely recommend in a place like Germany. But still: First rule of Usenet is to not talk about the Usenet. :D
Haven't touched Usenet since 2020 or so because it was cumbersome compared to torrenting, especially for software. Has it improved, or was I just on a bad indexer?
Didn't try it for software, only Movies, Shows, Games, Audiobooks
I am on houseofusenet and the "should not be named" partner indexer that allows API access for *arr Software. Also i have drunkenslug
I rarely search for something manually, only games as there is no "gamearr" or something like that.