Originally Posted by helterskelter808

FWIW, I don't think Usenet is a significant element of online piracy, and that process of Usenet being eclipsed started with Napster in the late 90s, followed by Kazaa and other p2p software. I'd guess torrenting makes up by far the vast proportion of piracy, and has done for many years, followed by file lockers.

The increased volume of posts on Usenet has occurred not because there are more pirates, but simply the advent of cable internet like @home in mid/late 90s, and further broadband development around the world in the 2000s, made it much easier for people to flood Usenet with files.

The number of actual Usenet users/pirates has likely plummeted in the last decade, thanks to free and easy alternatives like p2p and file lockers. In terms of numbers of users/pirates, which is the only thing that counts, Usenet is a drop in the bucket of online piracy.