logant
07-16-2007, 09:08 AM
Old but still great.
For those who don’t know, fans of the popular tech-news podcast Diggnation can view new episodes of the podcast, and others, two days early by paying a small monthly subscription fee of $5. This is not much to ask. There is also a website, called ********, which distributes these episodes early and free of charge. I used to host a mirror for this website. As it turns out, the practice is not entirely legal, and is harmful to the creators of Diggnation.
Previously, I thought this was perfectly legal, as Diggnation distributes their podcast under the terms of the Creative Commons license. As it turns out, this is not entirely accurate. I was browsing the Diggnation forums recently and found that all of the copyrights on the show are reserved exclusively to Revision3, Diggnation’s “network”, until Tuesdays when the episodes are released to the general public. Only then are they released under Creative Commons. Here is the post which explains how the episode licensing works.
What this means it that downloading an episode of Diggnation from ******** is blatant piracy. Personally, I think piracy can be a good thing, to an extent, and is often harmless. In this case, however, I have to side with the “strict old fogies”. Revision3 is the little guy in this situation, and piracy has a much bigger effect on them than it would some huge media corporation padded with billions of dollars of backing. The fact is, it hurts them.
Some might rationalize that Kevin, Alex, and even Revision3 don’t care. Perhaps they’re desperate for the exposure? After all, Kevin and Alex have even admitted on the show to having pirated media. Wrong. All three parties are against the early distribution of Diggnation. Want proof? Here you go, straight from Jay Adelson’s (Revision3’s CEO) mouth. In the words of Jay,
“Some have cited Alex and Kevin’s references to pirating in the show as proof that they think pre-releasing Diggnation or other Revision3 content is acceptable. This is not the case… Anyone who uses Kevin and Alex’s name or tries to use their comments out of context to support pre-releasing videos is basically insulting Kevin, Alex, and Revision3.”
Striker, DiggDown’s administrator, is misleading the public about the legal, moral, and financial ramifications of pre-releasing and downloading ********, as well. At the bottom of the homepage, there is a message saying, “I offer these downloads for the many fans of diggnation, free of charge. They are legal to download and redistribute.” Um, yeah. They’re legal to distribute starting on Tuesday, not on Saturday night through Monday. He also states that he is able to legally distribute these episodes early under the terms of the Creative Commons license. That’s correct, but like I said earlier, that license does not apply until Tuesday, the general release date. Striker is abusing and stretching the looser terms of the Creative Commons license.
Now, then. This brings us to the conclusion. Striker, if you’re going to distribute Diggnation early, don’t mislead the public about the legality of it all. You might also consider whether you want to continue the operation at all. I’d also like to challenge the users of ******** to discontinue your use of the website. Please, from now on, either pay for a Revision3 subscription, or wait two days to watch Diggnation on Tuesday. It is, after all, only two days, and you’d still pay the same great price: nothing. Also, you’d get to use lag-free CacheFly servers.
On a personal note, I will not to continue to act as a mirror for ********.net, and I will never download Diggnation from it again. My mirror has been taken down. I would also like to issue an apology to Diggnation, Kevin, Alex, Jay and the rest of the Revision3 staff for any damage I’ve had a part in causing. I sincerely didn’t think it was wrong. My bad.
Self Proclaimed Geek (http://www.selfproclaimedgeek.com/2007/03/14/the-truth-about-diggdownnet/)
For those who don’t know, fans of the popular tech-news podcast Diggnation can view new episodes of the podcast, and others, two days early by paying a small monthly subscription fee of $5. This is not much to ask. There is also a website, called ********, which distributes these episodes early and free of charge. I used to host a mirror for this website. As it turns out, the practice is not entirely legal, and is harmful to the creators of Diggnation.
Previously, I thought this was perfectly legal, as Diggnation distributes their podcast under the terms of the Creative Commons license. As it turns out, this is not entirely accurate. I was browsing the Diggnation forums recently and found that all of the copyrights on the show are reserved exclusively to Revision3, Diggnation’s “network”, until Tuesdays when the episodes are released to the general public. Only then are they released under Creative Commons. Here is the post which explains how the episode licensing works.
What this means it that downloading an episode of Diggnation from ******** is blatant piracy. Personally, I think piracy can be a good thing, to an extent, and is often harmless. In this case, however, I have to side with the “strict old fogies”. Revision3 is the little guy in this situation, and piracy has a much bigger effect on them than it would some huge media corporation padded with billions of dollars of backing. The fact is, it hurts them.
Some might rationalize that Kevin, Alex, and even Revision3 don’t care. Perhaps they’re desperate for the exposure? After all, Kevin and Alex have even admitted on the show to having pirated media. Wrong. All three parties are against the early distribution of Diggnation. Want proof? Here you go, straight from Jay Adelson’s (Revision3’s CEO) mouth. In the words of Jay,
“Some have cited Alex and Kevin’s references to pirating in the show as proof that they think pre-releasing Diggnation or other Revision3 content is acceptable. This is not the case… Anyone who uses Kevin and Alex’s name or tries to use their comments out of context to support pre-releasing videos is basically insulting Kevin, Alex, and Revision3.”
Striker, DiggDown’s administrator, is misleading the public about the legal, moral, and financial ramifications of pre-releasing and downloading ********, as well. At the bottom of the homepage, there is a message saying, “I offer these downloads for the many fans of diggnation, free of charge. They are legal to download and redistribute.” Um, yeah. They’re legal to distribute starting on Tuesday, not on Saturday night through Monday. He also states that he is able to legally distribute these episodes early under the terms of the Creative Commons license. That’s correct, but like I said earlier, that license does not apply until Tuesday, the general release date. Striker is abusing and stretching the looser terms of the Creative Commons license.
Now, then. This brings us to the conclusion. Striker, if you’re going to distribute Diggnation early, don’t mislead the public about the legality of it all. You might also consider whether you want to continue the operation at all. I’d also like to challenge the users of ******** to discontinue your use of the website. Please, from now on, either pay for a Revision3 subscription, or wait two days to watch Diggnation on Tuesday. It is, after all, only two days, and you’d still pay the same great price: nothing. Also, you’d get to use lag-free CacheFly servers.
On a personal note, I will not to continue to act as a mirror for ********.net, and I will never download Diggnation from it again. My mirror has been taken down. I would also like to issue an apology to Diggnation, Kevin, Alex, Jay and the rest of the Revision3 staff for any damage I’ve had a part in causing. I sincerely didn’t think it was wrong. My bad.
Self Proclaimed Geek (http://www.selfproclaimedgeek.com/2007/03/14/the-truth-about-diggdownnet/)