You can download all five available episodes at http://www.middle-earthradio.com/downloads/. You must be logged in to download the files but registration is free. There is a password reminder tool if you forget your password (but if you have forgotten your login, you'll have to use the contact form).

Although we recorded the episode on November 2, it took this long to edit and upload because Hawke has been very busy with a heavy schedule. We have since recorded three more episodes. He was hopeful earlier this week of getting them all online but I'm not sure.

The intro music for this episode is pretty long (about 15-18 minutes). I'm not sure why, so don't freak out if you hear nothing but music after Hawke's disclaimer. We do eventually get to talking.

Topics covered include:

• Opening music: Echoes from Rivendell by Gnomusy
• Alan Lee, er I mean, John Howe ( ;-) ) and his blog.
• Tolkien letter auction.
• The Hobbit in 3D.
• Lembas Recipe
• Tolkien Letter #131, "Other Minds and Hands" quote - Debate over publishing LotR with The Silmarillion, and Tolkien's insistence on the interdependence of the two.
• Tolkien's attempt to create an English mythology
• Other Hands Magazine discussion
• Trying to improve the "accuracy" of Middle-earth Role Playing, 2nd Edition and even 3rd edition (unreleased).
• Other Minds Magazine discussion
• Explanation of levels of "authenticity" in Other Minds Magazine for articles: "Core", "Optional", and "House".
• Overview of content in upcoming Issue #5
• Michael Martinez Other Hands article on .....
• Michael Martinez unfinished project History of Middle-earth
• Closing music: Tinuviel by Amethystium

Links mentioned during the show (full links on the Middle-earth Radio site):

• http://www.john-howe.com
• http://www.john-howe.com/news/more.php?id=246_0_1_0_C
• http://www.westsussextoday.co.uk/gaz...ngs.4647070.jp
• http://cinematic.newsbeet.com/story/...Not-Right-Now/
• http://www.merp.com/zines/other-hands-magazine/
• http://www.othermindsmagazine.com

I found a copy of the Parma Endorion eBook on a domain called pdfque.com. The site operator has apparently broken the Adobe security and embedded Yahoo! advertising in that eBook and many others, which is a violation of U.S. Title 17, Chapter 12 restrictions against disabling copyright protection software.

The Web site has also scraped content from the pages of Free-ebooks.net, and it has embedded Google advertising on its pages. That means the site is a classic Made-For-Adsense "scraper" site; in other words, it's just Web spam, but it's Web spam that is engaged in felonious activity.

If you violate the copyrights of 10 or more works, under Chapter 5 of U.S. Code Title 17, you're committing a felony.

Now, this is pretty straightforward stuff, and Dreamhost has a LAWFUL PURPOSE section in its Terms of Service agreement, that forbids any kind of illegal activity.

You would have to be a brain-dead moron not to understand that there is clear illegal activity going on at PDFQUE.COM.

So I sent Dreamhost a Terms of Service violation notification. They subsequently demanded that I file a DMCA takedown notice. Just to get the site taken down I complied and provided them with all the information required under the law.

That wasn't good enough for Dreamhost. They have refused to comply with the DMCA, they have refused to enforce their Terms of Service against illegal activity on client sites, and they are acting like they can get away with anything.

In fact, I found some interesting history behind Dreamhost. It seems they overbilled their customers by more than $7,000,000 earlier this year and just laughed it off like there was no big problem.

I've also found a number of bloggers who complain that they were drawn into using Dreamhost's unreliable service by bloggers who were being paid commissions to write favorable reviews of Dreamhost. That may actually be a violation of the FCC's non-disclosure rule concerning paid endorsements.

Here are a few sites to check out with more information about Dreamhost Web Hosting's lack of integrity. Frankly, these guys strike me as being big crooks who only want to protect cyber crime. They have an opportunity to prove their willing to enforce their terms of service. All they have to do is ENFORCE THEIR TERMS OF SERVICE.

• TechCrunch on Dreamhost Web Hosting.
• Even Wikipedia has noted the Dreamhost Web Hosting overbilling scandal.
• I provided more information about Dreamhost Web Hosting's refusal to obey the law and enforce its terms of service on the SEO Theory blog.
• Forrester Dave's blog isn't pretty but he raised the point about Dreamhost Web Hosting not acknowledging that cracking PDF security is a felony.
• This blog asks if Dreamhost Web Hosting is hiding cybercrime.
• Another blogger wants to know if Dreamhost Web Hosting is linked to cybercrime.
• Yet another blog that asks if Dreamhost Web Hosting is benefitting from hosting Cybercriminals.
• Dreamhost Web Hosting has also been noticed by this blogger.
• This guy asks people to share their Dreamhost Web Hosting nightmare stories.
• Here is a post alleging that Dreamhost Web Hosting destroyed a ten-year-old blog.
• Even DIGG has gotten into the act with this Dreamhost Web Hosting article about how bad they suck. It received over 1,000 DIGGs!
• This gentleman also claims that Dreamhost Web Hosting is a terrible hosting provider.
• Back in 2006 Dreamhost Web Hosting showed this poor guy just how adamant they can be about not doing the right thing.
• Here is another unhappy Dreamhost Web Hosting customer.
• More outrage against Dreamhost Web Hosting's support of cyber crime.

Dreamhost's use of paid bloggers to promote their service suggests that they have trouble getting decent reviews the honest way. I don't recommend anyone use Dreamhost as a hosting provider. If you search on "dreamhost sucks" you'll find plenty of people are pretty unhappy with them as a provider. And the ironic thing is that some people complain that their original content was removed by Dreamhost for violating copyrights.

Yeah, right!

So, now I'll be reporting Dreamhost's customer to the authorities. I will mention their refusal to comply with the law but whether they will be investigated, I don't know. Clearly, the people at Dreamhost have been abusing the protections extended to Internet Service Providers for a long time.

It's unfortunate that we have to deal with cyber criminals at all, but in the meantime if you want to download rion, an authorized version is available for free at Free eBooks.