Charging for freeware?

[Guest Grunt]

It appears that somebody is attempting to obtain permission to use other people's hard work (which was donated to the community) on a CD or DVD package for "no profit".I do not understand why someone representing a Website (implying that their users have Web access) would need to make CDs of stuff available for free on the Web! Has anybody heard of these people or had a similar message from them?I recieved the following message via e-mail today:"Dear Sirs,My name is XXXXXXXXXXXX, I work for VOLFTP as Web content editor.VOLFTP (http://volftp.mondadori.com/indexe.htm) currently representsthe most important Web site in Italy for the distribution ofshareware, freeware, public domain and commercial demo software.Our site is part of Mondadori.com group (http://home.mondadori.com),subsidiary of Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.p.A.(http://ame.mondadori.com), the most important Italian publishingcompany.Some details about our site:- Starting date: January 1996. A constant, reliable presence forItalian as well as international Web users- 100,000 users currently subscribed to the daily and weeklynewsletter service: a vast audience interested to the latest insoftware applications- 70.000 visitors a day from non .it domains- Winner for two years of the "Premio WWW" competition sponsored bythe famous Italian financial newspaper "Il Sole 24 Ore"- The main archive is mirrored throughout Tiscali's(http://www.tiscali.com) internationational sites network, reaching avast audience- Undisputed fame of VOLFTP compared to other similar sites thatstarted activity after 1996 and only carry external links or mirrorother sitesFrom a research carried out on our archives we have foundPiper Malibu Meridian Cockpit for FS 2002.we therefore ask you for permission to publish your software(included all yours other creation for Flight Simulator)on our "NO-PROFIT" CDs or DVDs.You may also send us a simple declaration like the following:"I authorize VOLFTP to put my Piper Malibu Meridian Cockpit for FS 2002.and other Flight Simulator filesin their file archives on the Internet and in any CDs or DVDs madeby them."We hope to receive an answer soon.Best Regards,XXXXXXXXXXXXX"And this was my response:As stated in the readme file with the package, the files are not to be used in any manner for which a fee is being charged; this includes any "at cost" CD or DVD distribution. The package may only be distributed for free and is already available on various Web sites directly related to the package content (flight simulation). Provided there is no charge for membership nor a download fee and the site and downloads are accessable by anybody, the files may be placed on a Web site; this is stated in the readme file. THE FILES MAY NOT BE DISTRIBUTED ON CD OR ANY MEDIUM FOR ANY KIND OF FEE, INCLUDING THE COST OF PRODUCTION, MATERIALS OR POSTAGE.Please direct your users to the huge archives of quality FREE files available at various sites on the internet, such as Avsim.com, Flightsim.com, and Simviation.com. -B. Stockwell

[Guest boback]

Yea I did, I got one those emails yesterday. They were asking about my repaints for Meljet. I am not going to give them permission. For one thing, the model belongs to Melvin Rafi, so I have no authority to say yay or nay.Plus, it DOES look like some sort of scam, where they will charge for the DVD/CD and the owners of the material get zip all.I have also clearly stated that I do not give permission for my files to be placed on any site or media that charges money for download or usage. I like your respond to them, I will be giving them a similar respond shortly.Regards

[Guest SoarPics]

VOLftp rears its head again... who would have thought FSPlanet's puppetmasters would be behind a scam like this.

[Guest mikehaska]

Just as a warning to everyone, VOLFTP and FSPlanet (Ferdy Serena) are in cahoots. They both work together to pirate freeware files and make a profit off them.If you get this email, respond that in no way are your files to be used by this company in any way!

[Guest]

I got one of those too yesterday... With the following result: DELETE!!

[Guest Toni Rauch]

...At least this time, they asked for permission.As I recall, the problem last time around (involving Ferdy at FSPlanet) was that files were being put on the site and distributed without even having asked first!Toni.

[Guest SoarPics]

True, Toni... but it would be unwise to believe that denial of permission will stop them from moving ahead with this latest rip-off of freeware authors.They're the consumate "backdoor" operators.