Newsgroups

Newsgroups are discussion forums or bill-boards within the user net. It is possible to take part in a forum by means of a newsreader (e.g. Outlook Express, Messenger) or a browser with a web-based newsgroup access. Users can post articles to specific topics (including pictures) and take part in discussions with other users.

Access to different newsgroups is provided via news servers, which are internet computers that store these newsgroup articles.

If the content of a newsgroup posting is supposed to be illegal, the relevant data is reported to the responsible authorities. At the same time a report goes out to all ISPA members, informing them that presumably illegal material was found in the corresponding newsgroup.

How to make a report?

In order to process a report about a newsgroup, please specify the newsserver (e.g. news.uni-xxx.at). The following information is necessary for processing the report::

• Specification of the newsgroup (e.g. alt.binaries.xxx)
• Name of the found file - subject
• Date of the file

It is also helpful to specify the name of the originator or to copy the posting’s header from the details.

Any further information can be useful, but we ask you not to send any graphical material.

NOTE: Reports regarding suspicious names of newsgroups are useless. In this case, the Stopline agents can only make random investigations for illegal material because of the vast number of files.