An astute reader pointed out that Hovind--or Hovind supporters--have spammed multiple Usenet newsgroups promoting direct links to Hovind videos; I myself did a Google Groups search through the DejaNews archives...and let's just say it was very interesting hunting.

Among other things, one report was that Hovind may have been spamming Usenet with this stuff. And--indeed--there are multiple hits in the Usenet archives.

At least one spam post promoting Hovind's work appears in sci.anthropology on 14 March 1998. It seems that Hovind supporters and astroturfers were mostly spamming talk.origins and a few groups connected with dominionist education, with occasional forays into spamming other forums.

Of particular note, a group called Ankerberg Theological Research Institute (which is apparently some premillenial-dispensationalist group promoting stuff re the New World Order) is known to have spammed talk.origins multiple times with direct linkages to Hovind's videos (links from a spam post of 16 February 1999 where it is explicitly noted that they have Hovind's video online via Real Player). Looking at Wayback Archive mirrors of the site, I was able to confirm the links to Hovind material here; they stopped carrying the video directly in May 1999, but Ankerberg apparently sponsored one of Hovind's bogus "debates" in September 1999, promoted Ken Hovind material in January 2001 (and even offered it for sale), and had Hovind material as late as 2002 in its "science" section).

The Usenet group talk.origins, as previously mentioned, has been a particular target of Hovind-support spam (an example linking directly to a website hosting Hovind material here).

Of particular note, in addition to the Ackenberg material, at least one other dominionist site had both audio and video of Hovind's material available for free browsing. (Alas, the site link itself is dead.) In particularly damning information, a talk.origins post on 18 February 2001 notes rather explicitly that Hovind encouraged people to copy and donate videos so that people would be lured in and donate to him, and also contained a direct link to a site that hosted Hovind videos (which is now defunct, and unfortunately is not in the Wayback Archive due to the use of anti-spidering scripts by the creator). The same person attempted to spam alt.atheism with the same post.

In perhaps the most damning evidence of all, a post on talk.religion.misc on 26 November 2001 notes that Hovind *himself* was offering the videos for viewing in Real Media format. (I have confirmed that the website was in fact archived, and the link was apparently live as late as 2004; sometime around 2006 it was repointed to a redirect to a page describing Hovind's bogus "$250,000 challenge". Unfortunately, the Real Media links themselves are no longer online, *but* the archive of the "About CSE" page from November 2001 does note that the works were explicitly placed in the public domain at the time.)

Ironically, one of the discussions on Hovind's videos from talk.origins notes possible copyright violations by Hovind himself; posts from 25 November 2001 show that a video promoting Hovind's "Dinosaur Land" theme park (which was shut down by Pensacola, FL authorities as he did not have building permits and it had not been inspected) used the theme music from "Jurassic Park" without paying copyright fees to Universal Studios.

Another damning post on talk.origins from 28 June 2002 notes a page offering free Hovind videos--one which is apparently still live (though with munged HTML code, so you will need to see source to get details)--ironically, it seems the site may have been set up as a parody, hence showing that the DMCA SLAPPs are very new indeed.

Another link from alt.bible.prophecy dating from 22 September 2002 actually lists password-protected FTP sites where Hovind's material may be had. (Of course, the sites are long-dead.)

Another link from alt.religion.christian.roman-catholic notes Hovind's role as an author for Jack Chick tracts--and following those links finds that Jack Chick is apparently selling the videotapes and DVDs.

Hovind supporters even hit the cryptozoology Usenet group alt.bigfoot.research with promotional spam on 18 September 2000 (weird, unless you consider that Hovind has actively promoted Nessie, Ogopogo and other lake and sea serpents as surviving dinosaurs--no matter that Nessie has usually been described as a plesiosaur, no more related to dinosaurs than birds are to iguanas).

The early Usenet posts show an even earlier site that Hovind used to host; it seems most of his material is old and may have been in the public domain for years (if the statements on the videos are any clue). Wayback Archive records indicate he may have been promoting this stuff as far back as February 1997 online; there is a secondary site that actually appears to host content of some of Hovind's books (which appears to have been hosted by a Hovind supporter); the book itself promotes some grand kookery (including claims that divorce rates and Naziism are connected to promotion of evolution; no matter that Hovind himself has promoted The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, The Fourth Reich, and other anti-Semitic claptrap used by Nazis and neo-Nazis).

There is lots, lots, *lots* more where this came from--seriously, do a Google Groups search for "hovind video" (without the quotes).