Windows Phone Thoughts: Spam, Pornography, MPEG, and You

There's a very interesting thread going on over at Brighthand that I think is worth reading. It's about a company who offers a free piece of software, but unbeknownst to many people (myself included), they're selling the email addresses to another company. That other company then turned around and send out an ad for an adult service. Quite the sordid tale! You'll have to go read the thread to see who the companies are that I'm talking about.

My two cents: if you're releasing a freeware application, either make it truly free (no strings attached), or be up-front about the fact that you're going to use the email addresses that you're collecting in a mailing list. There's nothing wrong with profiting from your work as a developer, but don't do it in a sneaky fashion. Be up front with your users, and keep their respect.