WMWifiRouter, the tool that allows users to share their Windows Mobile device’s internet connection via Wi-Fi, has disappeared from the web.
The tool utilized several hacks in the Windows Mobile platform, which essentially converted any Windows Mobile 5.0 AKU3 or above device into a Wi-Fi hotspot. The program was one of the first reliable methods to add 3G access to an iPhone or iPod touch, but did so in a simple, one-touch manner. The application was robust enough to allow for Wi-Fi sharing even while the Windows Mobile device remained in standby mode.
Now however, the application is missing from the developer’s web site. Some forum posts in community discussions cite legal concerns. However, we are not aware of any code that would cause such an issue.
Our analysis points to the developer attempting to re-offer WMWifiRouter as a commercial, for-profit product. The application was developed and supported by the community as a free offering. Small developers faced with extremely high success of free software often attempt to convert the product into a commercial offering. This is further evidenced by the development of WMWifiRouter.com, a site which contains no information other than to offer to sign up for an email to be notified of future updates.
Note: PhoneNews.com cannot verify that this site was established by WMWifiRouter’s author. We urge you to not sign up on said email list as we cannot verify its authenticity. Instead, stay tuned to PhoneNews.com for future updates. See article update for details.
We are offering the final, free version of WMWifiRouter for download, at the link below. This is a Windows Mobile CAB file, enclosed in a zip. Download the file to your PC, extract the archive, and copy the resulting file to your device. Open that file to install into main memory.
WMWifiRouter 0.91 (CAB)
ICS Installer (CAB) – For Windows Mobile devices that have Internet Sharing disabled
Update: Jorrit Jongma, aka Chainfire, the author of WMWifiRouter has contacted us. He has objected to our hosting of WMWifiRouter, but has been unable to substantiate claims that redistribution of the program was prohibited when it was initially offered.
Mr. Jongma did validate that WMWifiRouter.com is his web site. He refused, however, to comment on the conflicting statements regarding legal concerns prompting the pulling of the application. He also declined to comment on the future of the application.
After an analysis of the situation, we have decided to continue offering the final free version of WMWifiRouter, linked above. While developers have a right to prohibit redistribution of free software, they do not have the right to do so after-the-fact. We expect future versions to explicitly prohibit redistribution of WMWifiRouter, and as such, we will only offer older versions (version 0.91 being the last before this change).
We have also fixed an error that prevented over-the-air downloading to your device.
1. Chainfire has done more for the community than most (and probably more than you), so don’t assume things about his intentions.
2. If he chooses to charge for his work, then who are you to question it? If everyone was to donate a little bit too him as he asked then I am sure he wouldn’t need to go commercial if those are indeed his intentions.
3. He clearly asked for no one to post copies of this because of pending legal issues. Take your copy down.
i have been using chains app since v.01 and after i saw how great the app was and how better its gotten, i have become a fan of the tool and his work. he has really opened up doors for a lot of users and i fully support him. you should respect the authors wishes and keep any copies down.
i have donated to his app and still test his program as we speak. its his app so he can do what he sees fit. Chain is still in touch with the community and is still developing the program so stay tuned and ye shall have it!
Chainfire has, and still does fully support the community. Websites like this that blatantly disregard a software developer’s wishes are what hurt the community. Not taking down the software when asked just discourages future software developers from posting their work in progress.
WMWifiRouter was developed by Chainfire and few other individuals, Not the community as a whole. He shared it with the community, who in turn gave him feedback. I have donated to Chainfire for creating such a great app. If he chooses to profit from all his hard work, he should.
This website should respect his wished to Remove this download and Not Hinder his work.
We are trying to gather a complete view of the situation. Bear in mind, we do not have the resources to browse every page on every community forum. If Chainfire is available, we’d be more than happy for him/her to get in touch with us, there’s a Contact Us form at the bottom of every page.
As to the rest, it’s idle speculation… which we don’t entertain. We don’t see any legal ramifications of posting old versions of software freely available to the public (software which did not bear any apparent license agreement), nor do we see how that hinders anyone’s work.
You do not need to browse every page on the forum. The first post in the wifirouter thread should be more than adequate where he clearly states not to post copies. It’s not up to your legal interpretation on whether you should disregard his instructions. The smart thing to do would be to take down your copy until you do your research. I can understand that you might have overlooked the first post in the main thread, but I find it hard to believe that you are still keeping a copy posted after you now know for a fact that he does not want it posted.
Furthermore, I know you have been contacted about this yet you still have a copy posted. If you truly want to help the community, why don’t you do like I and others have and donate some to Chainfire for his hard work?
Chainfire’s efforts are certainly welcomed and appreciated at PhoneNews.com, I want to make that very clear.
However, users are left out in the cold after donating money to a free software effort. That isn’t okay, and we still have not been presented with a legal argument for why the software should be removed.
Your assertion that it is not up to our legal interpretation is incorrect, Chainfire distributed software onto the internet freely, and users donated to his/her project. We’d be happy to remove it if there is a valid reason, but to say that we have no say in that is simply not the case… it’s free unlicensed software that was contributed to by the public… and therefore is public domain unless we have more compelling evidence.
You say that you do not have the resources to browse every page on every community forum? Chainfire asked everybody to not share the files repeatedly in the SAME topic on the SAME forum that you cite in your ‘article’. That’s just the kind of bad research we all expect from PhoneNews.
Furthermore, the original url now redirects to WMWifiRouter.com, so I think that’s a pretty good indication that the new site was indeed set up by Chainfire himself. You even combine your disbelief regarding Chainfire’s involvement with a statement that “urges” users NOT to check the original url, and instead encourage them to check here on your site for news about WMWiFiRouter – a cheap attempt at getting more visitors at the expense of Chainfire.
Also, you see no legal ramifications to posting old versions of software freely available? Aren’t free programs still bound by copyright restrictions, regardless of being freeware? I don’t think you ever got a license to redistribute. As I recall, the download page for v0.91 CLEARLY stated redistribution was explicitly forbidden!
As for Chainfire contacting you, I’m sure he doesn’t have the resources to browse every page on every 3rd rate news site!
In reply to your latest comment, donations are donations. Since when does donation to somebody give you any rights? You didn’t BUY anything, you donated. Apart from that, Chainfire has also stated donators would not be left ‘out in the cold’.
And how exactly was it contributed to by the public? Feedback? By that logic, all applications out there are public domain. Things don’t become public domain unless the author gives up his right, which he obviously didn’t, as the application clearly states it’s copyrighted.
Please remember when you posted the tutorial showing how to upgrade the Mogul/6800 to the new RevA/GPS rom. Here is the thread:
https://phone.news/how-to-add-gps-to-htc-mogul-xv6800-p4000-titan-2663/
You used the same excuse – “not being able to browse through every article on every forum” – to deny credit to the authors of the programs you redistributed on your site. Now, you do not mention Chainfire by name while discussing his program, AND you go against his wishes by reposting a copyrighted product without permission.
It doesn’t make any sense and just furthers the impression that this site is run by selfish amateurs. Please understand that you CANNOT and SHOULD NOT redistribute work that is not yours without permission and credit. It’s fraud.
We are not making any assertion that we played any part in WMWifiRouter’s credation.
We are simply acting as a facilitator, similar to Softpedia and Download.com. Again, we welcme further information from Chainfire if there are legal concerns regarding the software.
I regret that some do not like this aspect of our consumer advocacy. However, we have no plans to change this practice.
The original site said it was never to be redistributed, a free download for personal use does not mean you can redistribute it. Especially on a website that includes ads meaning you are potentially profiting from redistributing his software without any permission. Incase you can’t read “every forum” here’s an excerpt from his thread:
The website and downloads are currently down, they will be back up hopefully soon. I have my reasons, sorry for the inconvenience. Please do NOT post other downloads to the software, I will have them taken down.
Very disappointing to see this disregard. I’d suggest you at least take it down until speaking with the author.
You all are cry babies Stop it with teh FLAME WAR I support what price did and i have been following since teh old days pf spritpcsinfo.com
Stop being fan boys…thanks Price for posting a link i’m DL’n RIGHT NOW!!!
There isn’t a flame war. Mr. Price is using a program that he had no hand in creating to further his own financial interests without as much as crediting the creator of said program. When downloading the latest version of WMWiFiRouter (v. 0.91 above), the terms of use clearly stated that redistribution was forbidden without permission. Mr. Price has the program, so clearly he either downloaded it legitimately and should know that redistribution is forbidden, or he received the program from someone else who was redistributing the program without consent.
The main issue as I see it is that Mr. Price has a documented history of behavior that is in his own self interests and does not take into account the communities surrounding these phones. He has, on more than one occasion, redistributed programs that he had no part in creating without crediting the authors (see my post above).
This pattern of behavior does nothing but anger the members of two of the largest PPC communities. Is this conducive to promoting his website? I don’t know. Perhaps he enjoys the attention his site receives as a result of the controversy. However, he certainly is not making any friends within the communities and in the future may regret his devil-may-care attitude regarding authorship.
By continuing to act contrary to the wishes of Chainfire, Mr. Price exposes himself as a charlatan who will do anything to further the interests of his website in the short term. I believe this website would benefit if Mr. Price decided not only to abide by the terms of use of the program above, but also be more receptive to the community and perform his due diligence by crediting authors of programs and roms that he posts. Instead, he has shown the community that he is not above simply copying and pasting programs and roms onto this website without credit. It is clear that Mr. Price would like to fancy himself as a journalist, but his actions show that he is without integrity.
“Stop being fan boys…”
Um, hey Pot, did you just call me black?
Last I checked, wouldn’t a fan boy be defined as someone having the name of another within their nickname. Especially in a defensive manor. Are you hiding under a sheet with mascara on crying to youtube as well?
Laughing uncontroably!!! You guys are TARDS!!!! Keep doin what your doin Price…
While he is dealing with his own legal dealings, hopefully when he is done he will then come after you. Its clear as day that you shouldnt have this link to his software up.
Its a great piece of work and your hurting developement of it by being ignorant.
Good job people, some much for reading this site ever again.
We have received an initial contact from someone claiming to be Chainfire. As soon as I hear back from him/her (to verify that it wasn’t someone attempting to masquerade as Chainfire), we’ll have an update to report back.
There have been some comments that have been abusive, and have been removed. Folks, please don’t feed the trolls.
We did not pirate software. If there was a disclaimer against redistribution, it wasn’t on the page we got the software from. We respect developers… and we balance that with our goal to empower consumers as much as possible.
If you truly respected developers then you would respect their wishes. Your definition of respect leaves a lot to be desired.
Your understanding of the situation leaves a lot to be desired. If we had been presented with an explicit notification when using WMWifiRouter (or from where we got WMWifiRouter, for that matter), we wouldn’t have offered it for download.
We do not however, respect ex post facto changes to a developer’s intentions… we don’t know if that has happened here, and we’re trying to find that out right now. In fairness to Chainfire, there may be valid legal reasons for it needing to be removed… we just haven’t heard any yet.
So you’re claiming ignorance as the reason you are not removing the download? You have been told there was a disclaimer placed on the the download site. So either 1. You got it from Chainfire’s download page that contained the disclaimer. or 2. You got this software from someone that was illegally distributing it. In this case you downloaded pirated software.
Either way, it means you are illegally distributing pirated software. Whether, the license to download and use it is free or not does not matter. You do not have the permission to distribute it. And the license for v0.91 clearly state’s “For personal (non-commercial) use only” This is a direct quote from the “About” section in the WMWifiRouter software.
This being a website containing advertisements and you getting paid for them make this a commercial site. So, by distributing this software and profiting from it clearly violates the licensing of this software.
So, now that you can nolonger claim ignorance, please remove the software from this site
Personal, non-commerical use does not prevent redistribution. I don’t know why you think the two are mutually exclusive. We are also not saying that free software means unlicensed software. However, in this case, the only license we’ve been presented with is to not use the software for commercial use. We do not believe we are in this case.
We are still waiting for confirmation from someone claiming to be Chainfire, we have never claimed ignorance, nor do we feel we are being ignorant in this situation.
>> We did not pirate software. If there was a disclaimer against redistribution, it wasn’t on the page we got the software from. We respect developers… and we balance that with our goal to empower consumers as much as possible. <<
I love your logic. You know, that warez site that was redistrubting the intellectual property of Microsoft didn’t have a disclaimer about it either. Guess I would be fully within my rights to download and utilize it then. I may even just redistrubte it too. After all, no disclaimer from where I took it from, therefore its not pirating.
What you’re failing to recognize is that it is *your* job as the individual who has chosen to redistribute someone else’s property to display due dillegence in verifying (from the developer, or a statement of the developer, such as the kind seen at the main point of release for this particular software) that your actions have not already been expressely forbidden. Your failure to do so can and will land you in litigation. I’d expect your host to be receiving a notification of infringement under the DMCA after the first request from the developer to remove the software. I say after the first request because I know the creator of this particular application is more lenient than I would be. Save yourself the trouble, and take it down of your own free will.
As for your desire to empower the consumers… that is only possible by respecting the wishes of the developers and actually taking the time to do things in a forthright and proper manner. Circumventing the people who contribute most to the community for your own personal gain will always be the most detrimental course of action for the consumer whom you claim to try to help. Your actions are the precise reason that great developers choose not to offer up their works to the public. Funny that the only reason I’ve even heard of this site is in-passing, regarding your blatant disregard for top volunteers to the community. Maybe you haven’t heard that offering topnotch material is the fastest way to develop a real, worthwhile reputation. You know, the old saying about catching more flies with honey than vinegar.
— One of the many who will provide negative word of mouth for a site displaying such inappopriate actions.
Christopher Price on February 17th, 2008, 9:17 pm
“Your understanding of the situation leaves a lot to be desired. If we had been presented with an explicit notification when using WMWifiRouter (or from where we got WMWifiRouter, for that matter), we wouldn’t have offered it for download.”
My understanding of the situation is not the issue as the facts are perfectly clear. Your inability to read the very first post of where the software came from is. That first post gave “explicit notification” not to post it elsewhere.
To quote Chainfire’s post “The website and downloads are currently down, they will be back up hopefully soon. I have my reasons, sorry for the inconvenience. Please do NOT post other downloads to the software, I will have them taken down.”
Thanks Christopher Price and you tards who are flaming… go ahead and delete your copies which I’m sure you are NOT
Thanks for providing a page with the information as to what is going on and what has happened with WMWifiRouter… I tried getting a d/l other places and succeeded.. but this page told me everything about the current version and also showed me how some of the well-respected members in the PPC world need to stop being so greedy. .everyone of them on here has this “pirated” copy on their computers at this moment I guarantee it.. so why can’t the rest of us?
To violate the DMCA (in the manner in which is described above), a product must have some form of EULA, either explicit or implicit. All WMWifiRouter says is that it is for personal, non-commercial use. Jonga.org has nothing on WMWifiRouter, though it has started to point to WMWifiRouter.com which does now point to legitimacy for that new site.
That said, we haven’t violated the DMCA. Clearly. In the Microsoft example, the product would have said in its EULA “redistribution of the product is prohibited”. This application does not say that… and we can’t validate some old website removed by the author says that either.
The DMCA is not a deathwish for everyone but developers. Developers have obligations under it as well, and for the reasons I outlined above, they aren’t being met even if that the developer’s intentions.
oh and btw, i’m definately a fan of http://www.phonenews.com now.. i love when people get involved with the community and know whats going on besides just being an outdated copy of other news sites.. thanks again.. now i go to bed … sharing my internet connection to my ipod touch.. peace!
>> That said, we haven’t violated the DMCA. <<
And I didn’t directly state you had. Thats not for me to decide. Unfortunately you have demonstrated an incomplete understanding of the affect of the DMCA with your statement, so I’ll clarify it for you here. (briefly I hope) My exact statement was I’d expect your host to be receiving a notification of infringement under the DMCA ….” Not you. The reason for directing it at your host is because if they want to be compliant with the “safe harbor” implementations of the DMCA, they *must* immediately block access to any and all material that is allegedly infringing on a copyright.
Your entire premise is that you have the right to redistribution because this was a “free software effort”. [Your exact words.] A free software license only exists in cases where the owner of the property has expressely issued that particular license. If they have not, as is the case with WMWifirouter, then the standard copyright rules apply. In this particular case it is treated like a literay work (International Copyright Law) and therefore redistribution of the property with the potential for a commercial or financial gain is forbidden. I’m not going to expound on how that directly affects you, but needless to say its an easy case to make win, and has been done before.
Oh, and lastly, the DMCA does not expressly require a EULA. It expands the ways in which a EULA can be delivered. In the Microsoft example you ran with, the company simply eased your due dillegence requirement, but they didn’t negate it. And the lack of a software delivered EULA doesn’t either.
e3chaos: Use is not in question. Downloading is not in question. Redistribution has been expressely forbidden by the developer. That is the only thing being adddressed here.
– DogGuy
DogGuy, again, if Jonga.org had an EULA online to evaluate, this would have been a non-issue. Redistribution cannot be banned ex post facto after distribution has been taken place (since there’s no EULA to look at, referencing the program’s initial release).
You do however, bring up an important DMCA argument, one that is not settled law. Can a developer after-the-fact re-define the terms of an implicit EULA, with an expressed one? In general, our opinion (looking out for the consumer) is that the answer is no, because that would permit the developer to engage in anti-competitive business practices, unilaterally delivering terms of use via fiat after the transaction has taken place.
If you re-read my previous post, I never said DMCA required an expressed EULA, I simply pointed to this particular situation as having been crystal clear had the developer maintained an EULA online. There isn’t one online, and I’ve yet to hear back from the developer… so the idle bickering continues.
LOL thanks for the early morning laugh…******** TARDS… I bet none of you have girlfriends.. Stroths I thought you were cool but I see your just a TOOL like the rest of them…
Keep up the good work Price!!!
Thanks Chris for all your hard work and insight. You guys are the best at what you do. Sometimes you have to take fire from people who don’t get it and have nothing better to do. People will keep coming to the site because of the quality of the reporting.
j.
I see that Chris is appealing to the lowest common denominator. That is obvious by posts like LeavePriceAlone who shows her own limited intellect. In all fairness, LeavePriceAlone is probably still in middle school based on her writing style, humorous use of low-level insults and how she won’t even use her real username. I feel sorry for her boyfriend.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA my writing style….I’m not here to write a novel in the comments of a BLOG… This is some what entertaining…and as for my user name I have none as i have been a wactcher of you all and have no interest on commennting on here, XDA or PPCGeeks…
And you get the the SEX wrong…LOL how did u fig I was a chick…LOL
This is really entertaining…
And to you all why would you “HATE” on price for trying to create another outlet for enthusiasts to come to..I mean we can’t all crawl to the same 3 to 4 sites all the time…
Again I say Price continue doing your thing and i will continue to follow you
I think what side of this debate your on depends on if you have this running on your PPC. While I have tried repeatedly to get my version working on my XV6800, I haven’t been able to.. maybe I am not capable, but I still haven’t. So therefore, my desire to get this working puts me in the position of wanting any new version thats floating out there to see if its the holy grail that will allow me to get it working. If on the other hand, like almost every single one of the posters here, I had a copy installed and working I might think differently. I realize that this argument has little to do with the status of the app in your world, and more about the desires of a developer that is obviously having a hard time with legalities (or he could be perfecting the reason why you should spend 39.99 on the newly packaged app, which I gladly would if it worked), I just thought I would point out this problem. I agree on the one hand that we should respect the desires of the developer to not redistrubute the software, but on the other hand, he only asked this of people after the issue (whatever it may be) became real. The legalities of it say that can’t be… you release software with no rules around it, its forever under that lack of rules… ask me how I know.
I did forget to mention that I do feel for Chainfire.. whatever this issue is, I am sure its a stressful one, legal or not. Its an amazing piece of software and it absolutely should be productized and sold, my guess is that it would be among the top sellers of WM software available today. So, I have not downloaded the one listed here.. but its tempting. I don’t even remember which version I actually have anymore, but its not working anyway. Good luck chainfire, and in the name of all thats holy, please make the next version work for me so I can stop ignoring my family while trying to get it to work.
@luvmyumpc:
Start>Settings>Connections>Wi-FI>Menu>Add New
Network name: make it anything you want, this is what the network will be called when you connect to it with laptop/etc.
Connects to: The Internet (although some people who had problems changed this to “Work” and got it to work)
Make sure you select to “This is a device-to-device (ad-hoc) connection”
Click Next
Data encryption: Disabled if you don’t want it password protected, or type a network key into the space provided if you want to keep undesirables off of your network.
Click Next
Click Finish
Now, run WMWiFiRouter, and it should use this newly created wifi connection to distribute your data connection.
Also: I don’t know what version you have, but some did not come with Internet Sharing (ICS) included. Make sure you have ICS on your device.
Hope this helps!
i’m posting this on every torrent site i know of and uploading it to rapidshare, etc.
i don’t care who made it, its a sick program and if people need it, they need it.
if someone releases work as freeware to the public domain thats exactly what it is. you can’t copyright something after you release it and then tell peopel to stop using it. sorry. thanks for uploading this, i’m about to go into a bunch of forums and post my rapidshare links etc. 🙂
btw this is working 100% on my htc touch cruise / wm6 😛
@Christopher Price
You stated the following:
“Note: PhoneNews.com cannot verify that [WMWifiRouter.com] was established by WMWifiRouter’s author.”
A simple WhoIs of both WMWifiRouter.com would have revealed that the Registrant information for that domain name is the very same as that for Jongma.org, the site where WMWifiRouter was originally distributed by Chainfire. Try doing a bit more research next time.
Crash, WHOIS information can be falsified. Easily. If I wanted to, I could have the WHOIS information for PhoneNews.com reflect that it is administrated by Rush Limbaugh, and that it is part of the EIB network.
Oh come on do you honestly think Chainfire would falsify his domain name registration information?
No, but some spammer/phisher looking to collect a log of thousands of email addresses (and eventually, credit card numbers) would.
Chainfire links to that page from his OP over on XDA, if it was a site that a spammer put up, why would he link to it?
can you all SHUTUP already HAHAHAHAHA
I’m going to go home from work and use it RIGHT NOW!!!!!
It sucks that Chris is using this mans work just to get hits on his website. Such as it is.
I say let’s just remove the download link especially since it was told to not distribute it in the first post located here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=357152. Sign up at his site to receive the updates, and let the good times roll! Cuz I can vouch for this man, he’s got some good stuff coming to everybody! And I know that for a fact….
Pdx77, you are correct, the redirect from jonga.org to wmwifirouter.com is recent, I don’t know if it was put in right before or right after this article was finished… but we are going to include that in our update, which should be up shortly.
It is obvious that you have no intention whatsoever to take down the link. I hope if and when Chainfire has the legal means, he will make you regret your self-serving actions.
But in the meantime, how about you edit you article and list the software developer by name and give credit where credit is due. And how about you either remove or ask permission to use the most certainly copyrighted logo for WMWifiRouter you have posted.
We have posted an update to the article which should clarify some matters. While I certainly don’t expect everyone to be happy with our decision, we believe we are within both legal and ethical grounds to continue offering the update after speaking with Mr. Jongma.
If Mr. Jongma is wiling to work with us further, we are certainly open to re-visiting this in the future. We have tried our best to reach an amicable resolution for the developer and consumers, and we’re confident in our decision.
“”Note: PhoneNews.com cannot verify that this site was established by WMWifiRouter’s author. We urge you to not sign up on said email list as we cannot verify its authenticity. Instead, stay tuned to PhoneNews.com for future updates.””
This is yet another example of your self-serving horse@@@@. Now YOU MOST CERTAINLY ARE hindering Chainfire’s work by encouraging people not to sign up with him for updates.
Who wants to bet that is mofo HAS himself signed up to the update list and intends to post the information he receives word for word on this site? Then he will send out a bulletin “Come to my site for the latest breaking news on WMWifiRouter”
OrangeGator, please read the update as I noted in my last comment. We have since been able to verify WMWifiRouter.com… I’m surprised you didn’t read the update in the article.
Of course we will follow-up on news updates to WMWifiRouter… you’d probably attack us for not doing so, ensuring that we’re darned if we do, and darned if we don’t. Thanks.
Yeah, I saw that you said you had been contacted by Chainfire. However, as of my last post, you still had that section up telling people not to register there for updates. Only After I pointed it out did you finally cross it out.