First of all let me begin by stating that normally I'm pretty easy going and am willing to share - obviously!  

I give out styles, brushes, pack all the time.  But what I don't appreciate are people ignoring the rules I've set forth stating that my items are not to be redistributed.  This means ANY of my items.  

I just found out that freebrushes.net has a few of my styles from here and my blog and they have chosen to host the files on their site.  Great.  Just great.  

This isn't a big deal normally if they had asked for permission or at least given a link back to my deviant page or my blog - but they don't.  Also I've looked up their stats and how many visitors they have - over 180k per month.  If my styles and such aren't the only items pilfered by these guys - none of their traffic is gained legitimately.  Because of their traffic and because of the content (which they probably gained without the permission of those who created it) they have ad revenue. I don't know how much money they are making from the ad revenue but on average each page can host 3 - 15 ads and those ads usually run anywhere from $10 to $80 per month.  That may not seem like much until you figure out that each page and each ad slot can literally provide thousands of dollars per month.

Now think about this - the traffic that they have gotten because of the content that they are giving away isn't theirs - it's the artist's traffic.  Freebrushes.net didn't make those items so in my opinion they don't deserve to get that traffic.  They also are redistribution content without permission of the owners and that in an of itself is an offense that should be delt with.

I would propose that anyone who downloads from these sites look at the items they are downloading and make sure that the items are legitimate.  I think freebrushes made a mistake and that is all - but it boils down to ethics in the end.  They obviously didn't care to read the license agreement that I put in my items or on the blog or Deviant page otherwise they would have asked permission first or at least linked back - so really what were they thinking?  They weren't thinking that they would have to answer for their indiscretions.  I am annoyed mostly.  I don't know how much traffic they've taken from my work or added to my blog or Deviant Page (they didn't rip out the license agreement in the zip file so IDK how much I gained because they left that intact).  But because they didn't provide a link back or ask permission I have no way to tell how it has affected my items or my sales for other items.  I think they owe me an apology and some sort of link exchange or free ad - perhaps even monetary re-reimbursement.  If this was a small person with a little blog or something I might be a little more understanding but I think they are profiting off of others work without their permission so to me they are in the midst of ripping artists off.

I'll let you all know what happens - hopefully they either take the items down or at least provide a link back to DA.