Well if a person wanted to use Usenet to download news and totally nothing else, they would need two things - a Usenet provider and an indexer. Both cost an annual fee, but it’s less than $100.
Newshosting for Usenet access, this gets configured in nzbget or sabnzbd as a news server. Then NZBGeek gets configured in Sonarr and Radarr as an indexer.
Do people not use a VPN with Usenet at all? I have one for torrents to get my Linux ISOs but I just assumed I should also use one to get my news from Usenet.
Nope! The reason you need a VPN for torrents is because you’re also sharing the content. That’s how you’re tracked, mainly. Someone downloads a piece of your Linux ISO, they know you’ve got it.
Use SSL with Usenet and your traffic is encrypted. Good to go.