Celestia Forums

I want to indicate you that on eBay there's a user trying to sell the "information" about your program - a.k.a. the url where CELESTIA can be downloaded!!!
Look here:

http://cgi.ebay.it/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie ... 7604636062

I wrote him talking about CELESTIA and his froud.

That's all.

Rino

In the U.S. at least, it's only fraud if he doesn't actually provide the correct information to whoever pays for it.

There are situations in which you can sell copies of Celestia. Read the GNU license for details.

Lots of people will pay for the convenience of not having to do something themselves, whether it's using Google to find something or mowing their lawn.

Just an update..

The seller closed the auction, and started another one wiht the same informations and the clause "WARNING: I DON'T SELL THE PROGRAM BUT ONLY THE INFORMATION ABOUT THE DOWNLOAD".
It seems more correct then previous one ....but, for me, it's not ethic at all.

http://cgi.ebay.it/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie ... 7605093267

What do you thing about it?

Yes, but if you can ask for a fee for a COPY of the software (just like the LINUX standard, for example) of for giving a WARRANTY to the buyer.
None of these were the situation i found.
Of course it's not a legal problem. It's a ETHIC problem, IMHO.

Rino

He could just as well sell copies of the software, even if they are provided only as downloads.

I agree this is not very ethical, but I don't find it outrageous either, if people are ready to pay for this I don't have a problem with it. If he where doing mass spaming to sell the stuff, that would be another problem.

Anyway, I don't think he's going to get rich this way...

rcannava wrote:Of course it's not a legal problem. It's a ETHIC problem, IMHO.

It's hard for me to believe that anyone would need to buy this information at eBay when it can easily be found for free at Google. But if they do, this guy is doing them a favor. So what's the problem?

- Hank

hank wrote:It's hard for me to believe that anyone would need to buy this information at eBay when it can easily be found for free at Google. But if they do, this guy is doing them a favor. So what's the problem?

The name "Celestia" is never mentioned, so potential buyers can't google for it. Even the window title in the screenshot was overpainted to hide the name. So the guy selling this is /intentionally/ misleading people for his own financial benefit.

OTOH I've seen people selling Celestia + Addons on DVD (for a low price), which IMHO is fair.

Harry wrote:The name "Celestia" is never mentioned, so potential buyers can't google for it. Even the window title in the screenshot was overpainted to hide the name. So the guy selling this is /intentionally/ misleading people for his own financial benefit.

He's not necessarily misleading people by not disclosing the information he's trying to sell. Granted, concealing the name would make it harder (but not that hard) for people who've never heard of Celestia to find it without paying him. But he's done them a service just by making its existence known to them. If they're willing to pay him for the URL rather than search for it themselves, I don't think that's a problem. But if he's deliberately trying to create the false impression that the software is only available from him, then that would be a problem.

- Hank

The fact is that in the first auction the seller was not announcing to give a URL for money. You could easily expect a piece of software for money - this is the first issue. The second one, after my emails, is correct - regarding what the buyer gets for money.

The second one is more subtile, I think.
Can you ask money for an information regarding free software? Of course, you can., It is not a fraud or anything similar.
Is it ethical? I think not: free software is for free, in any form you want to consider. Expecially if you're talking about software of someone else.

IMHO, of course

Rino

If there's a user selling information on where to download Celestia, and he or she is going to some efforts to conceal the identity of the software, I have no ethical problem with contacting every eBay user who makes a bid and telling them the URL for free. I am offering the information for a lower price (nothing) and it is a free market, after all.

Celestia is being sold in Brazil,also.Look:
http://www.americanas.com.br/cgi-bin/We ... e=search_b

rcannava wrote:Yes, but if you can ask for a fee for a COPY of the software (just like the LINUX standard, for example) of for giving a WARRANTY to the buyer.
None of these were the situation i found.
Of course it's not a legal problem. It's a ETHIC problem, IMHO.

Rino