Bright Star Monitor Epoch Photometry Database

Am I right in thinking that over the years many astronomical groups across the world have made their variable star archives available for inclusion in the AAVSO database? That being the case the decision to restrict access to the Bright Star Monitor Epoch Photometry Database just to AAVSO members seems rather hard to defend. "We would like to give universal access to your data but we don't intend this policy to apply to our data!"