> If Usenet were to become the private property of some entity, that entity
> would have legal recourse against unauthorized appropriation of its property.
> One way to accomplish this would be to form an organization, "Usenet Inc"
> or "The Usenet Society" or something (or align under some existing org
> such as Usenix or The Internet Society) and solicit people to join the
 
I don't disagree or agree with what you are saying, but there is
already "The Usenet Community Trust", which was created so that some
newsgroup (I'm 90% sure it is rec.food.recipes) could copyright its
posts.
 
I think a trust would be a better model than a society or
other legal establishments, but the general idea has merit.
I'm also not an international lawyer.
 
--tal