people using our bandwidth by linking to video

[stephenn]

Hello
we have a video clip on our site, playing as a wmv file in wmplayer..... what has happened latley is our stats show that someones 'diary' site is showing our video...AND it is playing it on their site but downloaded from ours through some software link to our site.
This runs up our bandwidth limit and doesnt send the visitors to our site.

Is this a common practice?
Is this an acceptable/tolerated practice?
What may be ways to prevent this (we cannot stream from our host)

appreciate thoughts
stephenn

[snowmonkey]

this is not a normal practice for sure.....some one is ripping you off......that is as bad as theft.

http://www.buffyguide.com/webmasters/directlink.shtml


Cheers

[stephenn]

thanks for artical link...... yep, the practice is bad form!

Ive changed the name of the video file they are linking to..... and put a website advert up under the original name. his will only work temporarily unil they cotton on, but it highlights the point a little, for now.

thanks for thought