> I just wanted to let you know that because your donation requirement is
> forced = otherwise we just WON'T get the download instructions:
> 
> 1. it's NOT free, as you claim, so FREE is a LIE,

Free as in freedom, as in MUTE is in the public domain, as in you can do 
whatever you want with it, as in you can probably download it from 
somewhere else for gratis (i.e., without cost) if you really want to.  
Once you get a copy of it, you can post in on your own website and let 
others download it for gratis.  But if you're going to download it from 
the website that I spend my time maintaining, you're going to pay $3 for 
the service that I provide.  Not $3 for MUTE, but $3 for the service.

No one said you have to download MUTE from me.  If you don't want to pay 
the $3, then download it somewhere else.


Let's see... around one million people have downloaded MUTE over the 
past four years.  During that time, I was asking for donations, and 
sometimes begging, and I got a total of about $8,000 (that's $8,000 
total over all four years).  My family (3 people, new baby on the way, 
so soon to be 4 people) needs $14,000 per year to survive.  

400 people per day were getting MUTE through my website.  I was getting 
$200/month in donations.  Now I'm getting $400/month in donations.  What 
you're saying, I guess, is that I should probably take the MUTE website 
down.  I simply cannot afford to spend time maintaining it for nothing.  
My family needs to eat.  $400/month makes it worthwhile for me to keep 
maintaining it.  Four years into a project, my interest in it is pretty 
much exhausted.

So "Free" is not a lie, but my time is not free (and here I am spending 
my time answering an email about MUTE---why bother?)

> 2. ANONYMITY goes out the window, because we have to surrender everything
> to PayPal or by mail to you (even if by mail, after receiving our money
> order, if we have to leave you a contact, where you'd send us the download
> instructions, that contact info already breaks our anonymity), so
> ANONYMITY is a LIE, too!

Every internet application (including MUTE) must make use of an IP 
address.  Your IP address can be traced to your identity pretty easily.  
Thus, it is not too hard to figure out *who* is using MUTE (or Freenet, 
or any other anonymous app).  After all, we could just take a look at 
the download log (to see which IP address downloaded it).

The point of MUTE (or Freenet, or any other anonymous app) is to hide 
*what* you are doing with the app.  Thus, though I can find out that you 
are using MUTE, it would be very hard for me to find out what you are 
searching for or what you are downloading/uploading.

And if you're really worried about it, you could set up a fake GMail 
account, then stuff $3 cash in an envelope to me.  I could email the 
download instructions to your fake Gmail account.  But even that 
wouldn't completely hide your identity, because someone could still see 
your IP address when you downloaded MUTE.  I guess I could send MUTE to 
you on a CD-R...  but that seems like overkill.  Like I said, as soon as 
you connect to the MUTE network, other MUTE users will be able to see 
your IP address (they just won't be able to track what you are doing).



> And why all of this? Because of $3? And no, don't tell me, it's not much,
> that's not the point!  Don't even get offended and say, then don't use
> MUTE! That would be childish. Instead, give some thought as an adult,
> whether my point is valid or not! It's about PRINCIPLE, about INTEGRITY,
> in case you, what these words mean.
> 
> So I'm strongly convinced that you should make that $3 donation REALLY
> OPTIONAL and put the download instructions right there on the same page!
> What's your argument against that? That then nobody would pay the $3?
> Well, then you're REALLY after money, which in this case is ridiculous,
> because $3 won't get you anywhere, even if 5 or 10 people pay, unless the
> whole world pays you $3 each, but that's unlikely.

Currently about 5 people pay per day, which is enough to make it 
worthwhile for me to keep maintaining the MUTE website and MUTE itself.

I'm strongly convinced that I should not be giving my time and service 
away for free.


> So you should seriously examine, what you're claiming and whether you do
> have a chargeable service or not. It's okay to charge for a service, if we
> get something in return and the price is at par with the value we're
> getting. You could charge even more, than $3, but you just can't have a
> CONTRADICTION in there, because people come to MUTE, because they compared
> other file sharing networks and picked this one, because it offers
> ANONYMITY and then you DECEIVE us. No, it's just dead wrong, you can't
> have that! I'm sure, more people will write you, too, about this or
> someone will sue you or get your PayPal account closed, depending on how
> far people want to go, how much time they have to deal with you, but you
> are still wrong by doing this regardless of whether people actually go
> after you or not. Wrong is wrong, period!

Wow... I really don't know how to respond to that... except to say that 
you're wrong, period!  Oh well.


> László
> 
> P.S.: I hate liars. The war in Iraq was started based on lies and now more
> Americans have died, than on 9/11, not to mention the 10 times as many
> Iraqis. A lie is a lie, no matter what and you have 2 (TWO) of them
> associated with MUTE. Lies are wrong, because they HURT people. In big
> ways or small, but they do HURT people, face it! Lies are told by people,
> whose mother or father didn't spank their ass, when they lied as a child,
> thus encouraging them to lie, because they saw that they can get away with
> it. For these people as adults lying is NO BIG DEAL, but to decent people
> it's a CRIME!
> 

Hmm... if it was a lie, it was a pretty thin one, 'cause you saw right 
through it (you must be clever, I guess).  

Are you expecting me to say something like:

"You caught me!  Hey, you got it! You need to pay $3 to download MUTE 
from my website.  I was trying to trick everyone!"    ??


Really, what are you saying?  Do you really think that anyone is tricked 
by the "lie"?  I think the MUTE website is pretty clear.  MUTE is free 
software, placed in the public domain, not copyrighted.  To download it 
through my website, you must donate $3.  Where's the lie?

Please don't write back.

Jason