Copywrite, Freedom of Information, or Just Plain Stupid?

A few weeks ago Art Bell left the Dark Matter Digital Network because of (drama) issues involving a stalker with a gun. For the protection of his family, he walked away. This left DMDN in a bit of financial difficulty given that Bell was his main source of revenue. I myself was a subscriber even after Heather, his producer, took over the show. That is until Bell posted google earth images of his home, radio shack, and compound. I mean if you're going to be that stupid to post pictures of where you live you must not be that threatened by a man with a gun....drrrrrama!

I digress.

Richard C. Hoagland's show which follows his is now basically the sole source of income for the network. Members who pay $5/month get access to the archive and that pretty much provides an income stream to the network to keep providing programming for free to anyone with a means of tuning into the station.

Which is why I find it difficult to understand why, when the material is available for free, it is still pirated...by a forum founder/owner!



To me this is simply the lowest common denominator to create traffic. Hoagland and the others at the DMDN are working their asses off right now to ensure the network stays on the air. I encourage those who see pirated videos to report them to DMDN, and to boycott forums which show these bootlegged videos.

That is the one truth we should be focused on. Greed. Intellectual or otherwise. Because these guys are abusing an ability to share information which is already freely available, they are endangering the network itself.

You guys are jerks. Plain and simple. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

 

AMEN.

 

Rose, here's the bottom line.
When I inquired at TOT if they were posting these videos with permission, here's what I got from one of the administrators.

The information is being directly pirated and shared with members only of that forum for free, and directly linked to a youtube account for the same purpose.

The point was not that donations should or should not be made, and if that meaning was what came across as primary I apologize. The point I was trying to make was this: if a forum moderator is directly breaking the law, can they be trusted in *any* information they present? It's a question of ethics rather than promotion.