Deja News offers personal Usenet

Newsgroup access and archive site Deja News today unveiled My Deja News, a personalized service that lets users to read the latest postings to their favorite Usenet groups.

Personalized services are popular among Web giants such as search sites Yahoo and Excite, as well as various push services and financial sites. In addition, those new to the Internet find the amount of content online daunting and more experienced Netizens seek to use the medium more efficiently.

"My Deja News provides an invaluable tool for anyone who wants fast, convenient access to the vast stores of information in Internet discussions--whether you're new to discussions or an experienced Usenet participant," David Wilson, vice president of marketing for Deja News, said in a statement.

Deja News said its new service allows users to read and post to any of 50,000 newsgroups they choose using any computer with Web access. The "accessibility from anywhere" feature also has been the "selling" point for many Netizens who have signed up for free, Web-based email in droves over the past year. The company will jump on the free email bandwagon in February for its My Deja News customers, and it says its free email will be protected by a "spam filter."

The newsgroup service began clearing its archives of spam and filtering it out of new postings late last year. Spammers criticized the move, calling it censorship.

The new personalized feature tracks customers' use and keeps a record of which postings have been read, Deja News said. A user logging on can type in his or her subscriber information and choose to see only new postings, it added.

The company also said its personalized service is not restrained by corporate firewalls, so users can access it from work.