THE PTS STUDY GROUP
the Free Hypnosis Social Network
HypnoSummit Piracy
Well, it happened again. It was bound to. I’m going to start with an explanation of the problem and then share with everyone my solution.
THE PROBLEM
The HypnoSummit site was hacked and all the videos from HypnoSummit 2.0 were illegally copied. Without getting into the details of how they did it, I will say that the person who did this has created a real problem that I’ve been busy working on for a while now. As some of you know, the HypnoSummit site was attacked during the event and shut the site down for about 7 minutes while we sorted it out. Everything had to be shut down and restarted because of it. They recently came back and got everything, and from what we have seen they plan on putting it on torrent sites.
The thing that makes this more complex is that the HypnoSummit doesn’t actually own the rights to the videos that were stolen. We let all speakers retain the rights to their presentations. This is why we profit share with every single speaker who presents for us and allow them to sell the videos on their own sites as well as giving them a 50% cut of anything we sell on www.hypnosummitstore.com.
This means the individual(s) who pirated our videos didn’t steal from us, they stole from every single presenter. If I don’t do something about it, speakers won’t continue to present at the HypnoSummit. Why would someone share their hard work and valuable insights knowing that they were going to be stolen? This is a big problem for anyone interested in the future of the HypnoSummit.
If the videos are pirated that reduces the value for the presenters, potential ticket sales, and attendance. This impacts our ability to get the quality of speakers you guys want to hear and makes the event financially unviable. If the presenters don’t see this as a worthwhile investment they go away. Simple as that.
The HypnoSummit isn’t Microsoft. Melissa and I invest tens of thousands of dollars and (along with our team) invest thousands of hours of effort and simply can’t afford to compete with piracy. It is more profitable for Melissa and I to see our clients than it is to put on this event. Piracy not only robs everyone involved of the money we have earned, it takes from us the emotional satisfaction we earn from building something valuable for the hypnosis community. As many of you are aware, that is much more important than the money.
I’m happy to give HypnoThoughts and all its content away free for anyone interested. The moderators and I, along with many who post great content, share that freely with the members. The HypnoSummit is something different. It depends on ticket sales to exist. When you download those recordings you undermine the likelihood of us being able to continue to create these events. It also kills our motivation to keep innovating and building new resources for everyone.
I demand that you show the team, the presenters, and all the honest people who paid more respect than that.
THE SOLUTION
My solution is as simple as the problem. It applies to anyone I find out is downloading the pirated material, not just the individual who initially took it. If you know anything about torrent distribution you know that by downloading it you make it more available to others. You also understand how easy it is to track seeders and leechers.
We will make an example out of people who pirate any HypnoSummit data and undermine our ability to continue to share high quality information with others.
If I find out that you stole from us, including anyone who supports the theft by downloading the data, your IP address will be banned from HypnoThoughts, the HypnoSummit, and any future site Melissa and I create, either individually or in partnership. Additionally, I will publicly post your name on HypnoThoughts.com as a person who stole from us and the other presenters by supporting the distribution of copyrighted content. We will send an email to every speaker with your name on a list of people who have stolen from them. That list will also be sent to every hypnosis organization. we will then contact your internet provider with proof that will probably get your internet account terminated with that company.
An interesting point worth noting is that if a few of the presenters get upset, it would only require 3 of them to get together and form a class action lawsuit against any person who pirates the data. Class action lawsuits are paid for by the District Attorney, not the plaintiffs. There are plenty of DA’s out there looking to make a statement about internet piracy. I’m not promising anything will happen, but I do know that the complexity of this issue actually makes prosecution much easier on the presenters.
CONCLUSION
Those of you who know me know that I have a very long fuse and am not quick to be upset. You also know how important loyalty is to me. Downloading these pirated videos is stealing from people who have supported us, and we refuse to sit by and let anyone do that.
The HypnoSummit team and all of the presenters put a lot of work into creating all these resources and providing all this content for the hypnosis community. All we ask in return is that you act out of integrity and show the content and people who create it the respect they deserve.
Please discourage people from downloading this stolen information and help us to continue to grow these resources into things that can help you even more. Be part of something productive rather than part of the problem.
Thanks,
Scott Sandland
Creator of HypnoThoughts.com
Co-Creator of HypnoSummit.com
UPDATE
Although we know they were taken, we haven't yet found any public sites sharing the information. We will remain diligent in looking though.
If anyone has any tips on any sites or individuals that are pirating the information
please contact us at our email: hypnosummit (at) gmail (dot) com
Thank You!
THE PROBLEM
The HypnoSummit site was hacked and all the videos from HypnoSummit 2.0 were illegally copied. Without getting into the details of how they did it, I will say that the person who did this has created a real problem that I’ve been busy working on for a while now. As some of you know, the HypnoSummit site was attacked during the event and shut the site down for about 7 minutes while we sorted it out. Everything had to be shut down and restarted because of it. They recently came back and got everything, and from what we have seen they plan on putting it on torrent sites.
The thing that makes this more complex is that the HypnoSummit doesn’t actually own the rights to the videos that were stolen. We let all speakers retain the rights to their presentations. This is why we profit share with every single speaker who presents for us and allow them to sell the videos on their own sites as well as giving them a 50% cut of anything we sell on www.hypnosummitstore.com.
This means the individual(s) who pirated our videos didn’t steal from us, they stole from every single presenter. If I don’t do something about it, speakers won’t continue to present at the HypnoSummit. Why would someone share their hard work and valuable insights knowing that they were going to be stolen? This is a big problem for anyone interested in the future of the HypnoSummit.
If the videos are pirated that reduces the value for the presenters, potential ticket sales, and attendance. This impacts our ability to get the quality of speakers you guys want to hear and makes the event financially unviable. If the presenters don’t see this as a worthwhile investment they go away. Simple as that.
The HypnoSummit isn’t Microsoft. Melissa and I invest tens of thousands of dollars and (along with our team) invest thousands of hours of effort and simply can’t afford to compete with piracy. It is more profitable for Melissa and I to see our clients than it is to put on this event. Piracy not only robs everyone involved of the money we have earned, it takes from us the emotional satisfaction we earn from building something valuable for the hypnosis community. As many of you are aware, that is much more important than the money.
I’m happy to give HypnoThoughts and all its content away free for anyone interested. The moderators and I, along with many who post great content, share that freely with the members. The HypnoSummit is something different. It depends on ticket sales to exist. When you download those recordings you undermine the likelihood of us being able to continue to create these events. It also kills our motivation to keep innovating and building new resources for everyone.
I demand that you show the team, the presenters, and all the honest people who paid more respect than that.
THE SOLUTION
My solution is as simple as the problem. It applies to anyone I find out is downloading the pirated material, not just the individual who initially took it. If you know anything about torrent distribution you know that by downloading it you make it more available to others. You also understand how easy it is to track seeders and leechers.
We will make an example out of people who pirate any HypnoSummit data and undermine our ability to continue to share high quality information with others.
If I find out that you stole from us, including anyone who supports the theft by downloading the data, your IP address will be banned from HypnoThoughts, the HypnoSummit, and any future site Melissa and I create, either individually or in partnership. Additionally, I will publicly post your name on HypnoThoughts.com as a person who stole from us and the other presenters by supporting the distribution of copyrighted content. We will send an email to every speaker with your name on a list of people who have stolen from them. That list will also be sent to every hypnosis organization. we will then contact your internet provider with proof that will probably get your internet account terminated with that company.
An interesting point worth noting is that if a few of the presenters get upset, it would only require 3 of them to get together and form a class action lawsuit against any person who pirates the data. Class action lawsuits are paid for by the District Attorney, not the plaintiffs. There are plenty of DA’s out there looking to make a statement about internet piracy. I’m not promising anything will happen, but I do know that the complexity of this issue actually makes prosecution much easier on the presenters.
CONCLUSION
Those of you who know me know that I have a very long fuse and am not quick to be upset. You also know how important loyalty is to me. Downloading these pirated videos is stealing from people who have supported us, and we refuse to sit by and let anyone do that.
The HypnoSummit team and all of the presenters put a lot of work into creating all these resources and providing all this content for the hypnosis community. All we ask in return is that you act out of integrity and show the content and people who create it the respect they deserve.
Please discourage people from downloading this stolen information and help us to continue to grow these resources into things that can help you even more. Be part of something productive rather than part of the problem.
Thanks,
Scott Sandland
Creator of HypnoThoughts.com
Co-Creator of HypnoSummit.com
UPDATE
Although we know they were taken, we haven't yet found any public sites sharing the information. We will remain diligent in looking though.
If anyone has any tips on any sites or individuals that are pirating the information
please contact us at our email: hypnosummit (at) gmail (dot) com
Thank You!
Tags: Consequences, HypnoSummit, Legal, Piracy, Presenters, Sandland, Scott, copyright, theft
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Doreen Cohanim C.Ht on -
Wow Scott and Mellisa and all other Speakers Presenters, I am so sorry to hear that HypnoSummit 2.0 were illegally copied, and I wish you all the success in catching this specific group or person who is responsible for the theft.
My advice will be also if anyone here takes or buy any products from some other Hypnotherapists, and realizes that the information and ideas were stolen from the actual HypnoSummit presenters, please let Scott and Melisa know, I have the feeling that what they will do on top of selling your products, will be to act as it was theirs, and I don't want to accuse anyone, but in my mind I have an idea of the suspect, and since it is an idea, and just my personal feelings, then maybe I could be wrong, I wont say who I think it is, but who ever it is, I hope you regret what you've done, and please don't take it to the next level, since It will put your A** where ever it belongs, so who ever you are and I am sure who ever it is, is also reading this posts, please think "If something like that, did happened to you, would you be able to be happy about it?
Can you sleep at nights? People do mistakes and if that was a mistake, contact Scott or Mellisa, confess and hopefully they will have mercy for you and a place in their hearts to forgive you, at list I hope this option will be a step to doing the right thing.
Blessing All, Doreen Cohanim C.Ht
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Permalink Reply by Jennie on -
I'm sorry to hear this happened to such a great giving group. I'm glad you are doing something about it, in posting all info on those who download the pirated materials. I'm feeling an even greater sense of pride in being part of the HypnoThoughts communiity. Thank you Scott & Melissa for all you do as well as all the presenters and others who work hard to put this together.
Jennie
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Permalink Reply by Joshua Johnston on
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I fully support this decision, Scott. While I wouldn't mind if any presenter wanted to--legally!--share a presentation with me, stealing like this is wrong and only hurts, well, everyone involved.
Like Doreen, I hope whoever did it regrets what they did and does not attempt to repeat it or make it worse. Knowing what I do about internet piracy and how insidious it is, though, I have my doubts that hope will be borne out. I can always hope, though. ;)
Joshua
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Permalink Reply by Kathleen Hanover on
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It has taken me 20 years of study and work to develop the public relations and marketing skills I shared in my HypnoSummit presentation. It took me about 16 hours of planning and research to put my presentation together.
Stealing my presentation steals money out of my pocket, and out of Scott and Melissa's pockets. If you steal my presentation, you're no better than a mugger or any other kind of thief.
I will be very glad to participate in a class action lawsuit against them once the perpetrator(s) are identified. Presenters--who else will join me?
Kathleen
Client, HypnoFan, Hypnotic Marketer
@KathleenHanover on Twitter
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Permalink Reply by Zoilita Grant on -
Dear Scott...I am so sorry to hear this. I support you and Melissa completely. I will speak to this issue in my hypnosis community and let you know of anything I hear. Not a good Karma choice for the thief. Blessings to You,
Zoilita Grant MS. CCHt.
Hypnotic-Coach
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Permalink Reply by Christine Elowitt, M.B.A., C.H. on -
Hi Scott. Perhaps you could add some information for those of us less technically savvy than you are. I would be interested in getting tips from you on how I can avoid inadvertently viewing or downloading presentations that were stolen from the HypnoSummit website. I agree that we should be vigilant to prevent their theft from paying off for them. How would I identify something that was being offered as something that had been stolen from HypnoSummit? Thanks for any advice you can give us.
Christine Elowitt, M.B.A., C.H.
Certified Hypnotherapist & Life Coach
www.discoveriescoach.com
(805) 322-7411
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Permalink Reply by Doreen Cohanim C.Ht on
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Hello Kathleen,
I understand your frustration, but without having any evidence you are are just blowing air, because I believe who ever done that will have a place in their heart to regret it, and with you thinking of law suit, it is not going to make this person to want to come forward, beside what if this person have no penny, except him being an immature thief who have no money to pay you back?
Therefor all I am going to say is, good luck to you.
Respectfully, Doreen Cohanim C.Ht
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Permalink Reply by Mike Stop Continues on -
I'm sorry to hear that this is your response to those who willingly position themselves against the law to share knowledge with the rest of the world.
While whoever crashed the site for 7 minutes should appropriately be labeled a terrorist, I believe that the class of actions including the 'piracy' of said videos is justly positioned within a different arena.
Who would put the needs of the many (pirates) against the needs of the few (presenters)? Since I will neither pirate the information nor will I purchase the videos, perhaps I am not one of the many individuals who will have to make up their mind for themselves.
In my experience, once a person realizes that loaning a friend a book, sharing a movie rental, and making a mix tape from the radio have always occupied the same arena as 'internet piracy', understanding that purchasing a product is for the physical item manifest and not the ideas contained within is necessarily accepted because everyone has used a library.
Perhaps an interesting stretch would be to find ways to monetize the website with the assumption that the knowledge contained will be freely available eventually in most possible futures. Advertising, physical products, and consequences we all must face in a world that is only becoming more open.
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Permalink Reply by Dennis Atkinson on -
Being a retired law enforcement officer this happening to your site does not surprise me -- not because of weakened security or any action or inaction on the part of HypnoThoughts ... It does not surprise me this happened because I feel there will always be those, who because of their own personal greed find some kind of pleasure in taking from others in order to support their own, selfish, personal gain.
I am saddened that this has happened to HypnoThoughts as I feel this is an excellent site, and can only hope that this will not tarnish what has become a great internet site.
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Christine,
The only legitimate source for HypnoSummit videos or audios is www.HypnoSummitStore.com, or the individual presenters themselves.
If something is being promoted online as a HypnoSummit video or audio, and you didn't buy it from the HypnoSummit Store or the presenter in the video, it's stolen. Simple as that.
Kathleen
Client, HypnoFan, Hypnotic Marketer
@KathleenHanover on Twitter
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Permalink Reply by Richard Anthony on -
Dear Scott,
Almost every original stage bit I've written since the 1970's has been copied by others...So I just keep writing them...and laugh when I see them performed as "original"...
Richard
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Permalink Reply by Richard Nongard - NLPBoard.com on -
Yes Scott, it was bound to happen. As an early pioneer of electronic distribution of training materials, I have been the victim of torrents, and of course most of my books (not only in hypnosis, but my general pscyhology textbooks) are available on torrent sites. From a business perspective, I view it like shoplifting - it is going to happen as is a cost of doing business. HOWEVER, unlike stores that do not chase or prosecute shoplifters, it is a whole lot easier to find those who download materials. Certainly many of them get away with it. However, if you stole from me, my D.A. in Tulsa County Oklahoma, will go after you, and go after you relentlessly - no matter where in the world you are. He is a man with a mission, I am always happy to work with others whose materials have been stolen to prosecute in class actions...
Currently I have an online stalker, and it is almost fun to get IP's, save the emails and communications and watch them set themselves up for possible prison time, in addition to civil action. Electronic crime is perhaps in some ways, the easiest of all to catch, there is a PERMANENT paper trail.
That being said, EVERYTHING anyone posts on the internet will be stolen eventually; but to the theives, beware, there are people like me and like Scott, who would find it just plain fun to hold you accountable.
Last but not least - if you watch downloaded files from torrents or burn them to disc, you are not only robbing me, but robbing others who could benefit from future work that we loose motivation to produce. Scott nailed that on on the head...
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