Continuing the trend for ISPs to offer less service for more money, Verizon announced on their website that they're no longer going to be carrying Usenet groups beyond the "Big Eight" hierarchies. They didn't really explain why.

Apparently they're using Little CuCuomo's attempt to fight kiddie porn to justify their reduction of services. They're dropping the entire "alt" hierarchy and others such as the regional "ne" one. This represents something like 90% of Usenet. Couldn't they just filter the offending newsgroups?

I'm still on the fence about whether it was a good idea to drop Comcast and go to FiOS. Comcast had Usenet retention of several months. Verizon only gave you a week or so. With FiOS it takes over a minute to reconnect when my machine comes out of Hibernate mode; with Comcast it was instant. Comcast offers free McAfee protection; Verizon offers you a teaser trial download for a $5 monthy charge.

Boston Police report that on recent weekends, somebody's been breaking into the Verizon lot at 173 Boston St. in South Boston and stealing copper wiring.

Also click on the link to read about a teen beaten with a baseball bat by a group of other teens at the Burger King at W. Broadway and D Street Tuesday night.

Fabulously Out There decided to switch from Verizon to Comcast for broadband when the Verizon phone rep offered to send out a technician to diagnose her broken broadband "between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m." She reports her experience with Comcast hasn't been much better.

Yeah, it's a cool Art Deco light on the side of the old New England Telephone and Telegraph (now Verizon) building in Post Office Square, but so?

Well, if you stand on the sidewalk right outside the building and take pictures of it, security guards in black suits might come out and tell you you can't take photos of the building.

Take this, Verizon.

Oh, and here's another one:

The East Boston councilor wants to do something about the tons and tons of phone books that land with a thud in lobbies and on front steps: Ban unsolicited commercial deliveries weighing more than a pound. Hear that, Yellow Book and Verizon?

The Globe finally weighs in on a topic very familiar to UHub readers: the wasteful free distribution of 4-pound phone books, by two competing companies.

Earlier:
When phone books attack
Yellow onslaught
Yellow Book: The annoying phone directory
Big fat yellow books on the stoop

Yesterday's installment of Metro Moments with the Mayor has two juicy gems. First, Mumbles tackles Verizon FiOS, or more appropriately, The Internet Service You Can't Get in The Technology Center of The East Coast. Second: he wants $50-100k red light cameras. Ahh, Massachusetts, where the answer to everything is civil fines.

Verizon yesterday followed up Yellow Book by carpet-bombing Jason's block with phone books:

... I will give Verizon credit for good timing. Curbside recycling goes out on Tuesday nights. ...

Verizon to spend $200M to expand networks:

... Cupelo said the company has experimented with FiOS deployments in parts of Dorchester, but it does not have any immediate plans to bring it to all of Boston. ...

Verizon workers protesting outside the home of Verizon New England's general manager on Sunday. At issue: Work schedules for employees installling FiOS (the company's answer to cable broadband).

They're not the only ones complaining about FiOS installation issues (even more).