[anologwintermut]

Or they got burned on charge back rates the same way porn sites did in the 90's. In which case, any payment system that offers charge backs likely would make the same call. Now digital currencies(which don't have charge backs typically), would solve that problem, but the lack of a main stream one of those is not clearly the result of a monopoly.

It makes little sense that the US gov had these guys banned because they were anonymous since they aren't. Mounting trafic coloration attacks against a VPN is trivial if you see everything going in and out ( same for Tor). Maybe the RIAA and MPAA had enough clout to do it, but why not usenet providers as well?