issues and studies

This note highlights studies of usenet, some landmarks and questions about regulation.

It covers -

• academic and other studies
• "robust debate", defamation and liability
• landmarks - key points in the history of usenet

     studies

Much of the scholarly writing about usenet dates from the early 1990s, with attention subsequently moving to chat. The initial work is marked by a concentration on the nature of computer mediated communication (eg flame wars and pseudonymity) and a feel-good fuzziness about 'online community'.

For early views we recommend Tim North's 1994 thesis The Internet and Usenet Global Computer Networks and Henry Hardy's 1993 thesis.

Other academic accounts include Richard MacKinnon's (1995) 'Searching for the Leviathan in Usenet' and Margaret McLaughlin & Kerry Osborne's 'Standards of Conduct on Usenet' in Cybersociety: Computer-Mediated Communication & Community (Thousand Oaks: Sage 1995) edited by Steven Jones, Nancy Baym's 'From Practice to Culture on Usenet' in The Cultures of Computing (Oxford: Blackwell 1995) edited by Susan Starr and Michele Tepper's 'Usenet communities & the cultural politics of information' in Internet Culture (London: Routledge 1997) edited by David Porter. Bruce Jones' study An Ethnography of the Usenet Computer Network and Ronda Hauben's 2001 Culture Clash paper offer insights into newsgroups.

Netizens: On the History & Impact of Usenet & the Internet (Los Alamitos: IEEE Press 1998) by Michael & Ronda Hauben is for us a curious mix of serious research, digital triumphalism and zany info-lib. We suggest that you read the initial chapters and skim the deliciously silly 'Proposed Declaration on the Rights of Netizens' or instead turn to Wendy Grossman's Net.Wars (New York: New York Uni Press 1997).

     'robust debate', defamation and liability

In exploring online defamation cases such as Godfrey v Demon Internet in the UK we have noted differing responses to questions about the liability of ISPs and individuals.

Potential problems with usenet content have led to ISPs adopting one or more of the following solutions -

• alerting subscribers about the bounds of acceptable behaviour (underpinned by a disciplinary procedure for breaches and terms & conditions that allow unilateral removal of posts or suspension of posting privileges)
• mechanisms for speedy handling of complaints (with all complaints and remedial action being recorded)
• manual or automated monitoring of some groups
• exclusion of some groups (ie refusal to carry some groups that are perceived as frequently featuring defamatory content)

     landmarks

1976 Mike Lesk at AT&T Bell Labs creates Unix to Unix Copy Protocol (UUCP)

1979 Unix User Network (Usenet) created by Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis at University of North Carolina

1981 'B' version created by Matt Glickman and Mark Horton

1982 USENIX conference differentiates 'news' Usenet from overall UUCPNET network

1985 Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) introduced for distribution of Usenet articles over TCP/IP

1986 'Great Renaming' of the Usenet hierarchy

1988 Spencer's C version

1993 AOL offers Usenet access to its subscribers

1995 brouhaha over TIME's publication of claims by Marty Rimm

1995 Deja News establishes Usenet archive

2000 Godfrey v Demon defamation case in UK

2001 Google acquires Deja archive, offers 20 years of Usenet posts

2005 AOL announces end of its integrated Usenet service

Some other highlights are here.

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