The point of getting SSL encrypted usenet is "just in case" someone is monitoring it, the same way SSL encrypted pages are used when you shop online and send your credit card details to the shop's server.
To get that court order in the first place they'd need proof that someone with your IP address was downloading copyright material at such a date and time. Even if they could spy on your non-P2P connection, your data is encrypted.
I've explained exactly why above.
Source please? I use a Giganews reseller and I've never been notified of anything being deleted. I've also never seen a binaries report that didn't work unless it was outside my retention limit.
And no company has ever tried getting details from a usenet provider because there's no proof.
Encryption is just being careful, should the unlikely event that someone is actually monitoring your traffic happen.
Yup, pretty much. Your ISP will be able to see that you're downloading a lot over an encrypted connection but not be able to read the packet headers or anything, also it's not the ISP's job to spy on you or police what you download and they have never done so without a court order. A court order requires evidence that simply isn't there in this case.
At the worst, at this point in time (laws change), downloading a lot over usenet will get you a fair-usage warning from your ISP. That's pretty much it. Like I said though, laws change, and it wouldn't surprise if the whole process of catching pirates was made much easier one day.