[hey2022]

I am not sure I follow you. If I download a Linux distro from a website that is using Google Analytics, I am still the product? That is not even remotely correct. We are not discussing tracking or sponsorships here, or even whether people who write free software have financial incentives. In very many cases free software _is_ the product, not the people who download and use it.

[invalidname]

Yes. Tracking data has value so you are the product to the company providing the hosting.

Yes. The code you're downloading is free. Just like the words of Shakespeare are now free. But you need to read those words off of something. That "something" sometimes includes tracking. Why would a commercial company offer this for free?

Sometimes it's indeed charity. But we have no way of knowing it. Sometimes the value is analytics which they can use to fingerprint and follow you across other properties they have.

[hey2022]

You are saying that if someone takes free software and sells it (or distributes with the intention to monetize that service through ads) then that makes software not free? I disagree.

In the context of this discussion, there is a clear distinction between developers/companies that build truly free products vs free products that are intended to be monetized through selling user data or showing ads.

A service that tracks and sells user data in exchange for free downloads is a different product, has nothing to do with the original code/product that it might be distributing.