Question re. usenet and binaries

As you may know I moved from the Netherlands to Switzerland. In the Netherlands I had a nice, fast internet connection. My IP provided also access to "newsgroups", and I was a big fan of those.

In Switzerland, newsgroups are only used for just that: news. Binaries are not allowed. Yes,this really is a conservative, backwards country

Now, I want to see if it is possible to still use newsgroups or other means to download my binaries. E.g. via this http://www.xsnews.com/Home/

But I don't know if that would work in Switzerland. Does downloading binaries only work via your own provider? Or can I use another provider? Including a foreign one?

This may make sound like a newb... which I am... but what are Binaries in the sense you are using them?

Yeah, sorry, most of us Americans are lost on this word usage.

Is this like using RSS on your favorite news site or customizing a home page to display your preferred feeds?

0010 1001 0100 1100 1010 0101 0011 1110 0001

^^^ is that it?

LOL

"A binary file (extension .bin unless otherwise specified) is a computer file which may contain any type of data, encoded in binary form for computer storage and processing purposes; for example, computer document files containing formatted text. Many binary file formats contain parts that can be interpreted as text; binary files that contain only textual data - without, for example, any formatting information - are called plain text files. In many cases, plain text files are considered to be different from binary files because binary files are made up of more than just plain text. When downloading, a completely functional program without any installer is also often called program binary, or binaries (as opposed to the source code)."

The good thing is that it doesn't just have to be text. It can be any computer file, including sound and video. In the Netherlands you can use a newsreader program to download binaries onto you harddisk. With winrar and winpar you unpack and repair them, and than you burn the files onto a DVD (or you use a emulator on your PC). That way you can watch the latest movies (even before they are in the cinema), the best CD's (and you only burn the songs you like) and play the latest games( provided your PC can play them).

And there is more: also Xbox 360, Playstation and other media can be downloaded. Or the latest traffic programs or GPS software for your phone or TomTom. Or e-books, libraries full of them.

So, you can imagine why I miss it.

BTW: downloading via newsgroups is not a crime, according to Dutch criminal and intellectual property Law. Only the distribution of unapproved information is an offence, but when you are only downloading, you are not distributing (provided you use the information for yourselves only).

It's different from the peer-to-peer programs (such as Kazaa, Frostbite, etc) where the user not only downloads, but also automatically uploads information. That is not allowed.