Richard Nongard posted on hypnothoughts about the Video Pirates and Youtube Scam – http://www.hypnothoughts.com/forum/topics/video-pirates-and-a-youtube – the folks who steal other people’s hypnosis videos and then edit out the original posters identity to put in links and promotionals for a webpage that redirects to an affiliate link for Igor Ledochowski’s conversational hypnosis products.

I put my own stuff on youtube – http://www.youtube.com/user/briandavidphillips – because I want folks to see the videos and then perhaps head over to my webpages at http://www.briandavidphillips.com to check out my trainings or products or services or shows or whatever. I am also happy to have folks post my videos on their sites or blogs or the like (that’s what the embed code is for and those who don’t want their material posted on someone else’s blog or facebook stream or even hear on hypnothoughts can disable that code in their youtube or google video accounts when posting the video). So, if folks just reposted it with my identification in-tact it would be at least a little bit less unkool. Unfortunately, these guys tend to edit out the identity of the original video producer and put their own webpage – or the one they are promoting – in the line.

Igor and his business partner Clifford Mee both know about the problem as it’s been going on for some time. Sean Michael Andrews told me about his troubles with them as he has been a victim of this and because of his experience, I at least had a headsup when I found my own video stripped and pirated for this scam. Unfortunately, Clifford and Igor each told me there is no way for them to know which affiliate is at cause and so they could do nothing beyond telling victims to complain to youtube as per the form Richard has posted on hypnothouhts. I have been considering watermarking or at least titlemarking any future videos I might post because of this very problem.  Honestly, I find such marks throughout a video to be annoying but if it’s the only way to keep sleazebags from stealing your work (since they have stolen my videos in the past for this scam I know that I am a potential target), what more can you do?  I for one just don’t have the resources to track these folks down and resort to legal means to shut ’em down for good and my organized crime contacts don’t extend beyond certain borders and I prefer not to use dark occult means to mess folks up . . . so, options are limited and I suspect a number of the other folks who become victims of this scam (it is most certainly not a victimless crime) have even fewer resources or time to bring to bear for something like this than I do (although those who live in the same country as the offender are in a much better position than I to get it stopped).

I’ve heard very very good things about Igor as a person and as a trainer but was never comfortable with the marketing style and so I couldn’t get past the negative impression to get to the quality material underneath it and this sort of aggressive and underhanded piracy ploy really has done damage to his professional image among longstays in the community. However, the folks who run this sort of scam don’t care about the longterm effects it has upon the person whose business they are supposedly supporting but are more interested in getting immediate gratification buys from the consumers who keep clicking away without realizing they are supporting not only unethical practices but illegal ones as well.

Friends whose opinions I trust tell me that Igor is personally an upstanding guy but in the longrun this sort of practice by those supporting his business will not win him friends within the community at large and work against longevity. Then again, there are plenty of folks for whom reputation is not an issue as long as the product is moving out the door.

The hypnosis profession attracts a few very distinct personality types . . . among them are those who are interested in the power of helping and those who are interested in the power of presentation and those who are interested in the power of control . . . the caregivers and the showmen and the manipulators. Obviously, there are extremes among these types.

Some folks are fans of the "situational ethics" mentality and we certainly see quite a few marketers in our communities who buy into the "ends justify the means" mindthink of "it’s the results that count, not how you get them" . . . certainly, one of the best-selling topics in any hypnobookstore is the materials and trainings on "covert" hypnosis and the use of NLP for sales and manipulation. One can’t be too surprised when there are folks who take all that to heart and begin to apply it with less than an ethical grounding. Unfortunately, the guys who behave that way seem to make more money than those who don’t and they tend to not get caught or punished so there’s little incentive for them to stop and they become marketing heroes to the folks who want to grow their own businesses and the cycle starts anew.

Hypnosis is often about ego and some folks in the hypnosis or related businesses have more ego than a human is safe having and as such there are indeed a number of folks in the industry (not the community, but they see it as an industry) who do not see their fellow hypnotists as people but as pawns in a game to be used and disposed of.  Were he alive today, perhaps Machiavelli might be presenting power-selling seminars and affiliate marketing schemes (actually that’s not fair, machiavelli didn’t start writing The Prince until after he was tortured by "the rope" dislocating his shoulders so there is some evidence his motivation for writing what has become the handbook of power business was not simply one of advocacy, although there is debate about that issue – certainly today’s underhanded marketers and enronists don’t have any such excuses or defences).

Ah, well . . .