[ale] google and gpl

Jim Kinney jim.kinney at gmail.com
Wed Nov 19 07:52:24 EST 2008


I thought the gpl3 closed the asp loophole. Maybe it was a very early draft
version that has since been modified.

On Tue, Nov 18, 2008 at 11:53 PM, Brian Pitts <brian at polibyte.com> wrote:

> On Tue, 2008-11-18 at 21:35 -0500, Jim Kinney wrote:
> > I was just thinking about google and the gpl. We all know that google
> > wouldn't be able to run were it not for Linux. We all also know they
> > use a ton of Linux stuff and don't _have_ to release their
> > modifications as they are in that special grey area of _using_ the
> > code and not distributing the code. They only show the output of the
> > code.
> >
> > In fact, it was just this sort of application service providor not
> > giving back that led to the GPL v. 3. (yes, google does give back in
> > other ways but not the stuff they code for their applications,
> > machines, etc)
>
> Huh? The GPLv3 leaves the ASP loophole open.  Perhaps you're thinking of
> the GNU Affero General Public License version 3, which says
>
> "Notwithstanding any other provision of this License, if you modify the
> Program, your modified version must prominently offer all users
> interacting with it remotely through a computer network (if your version
> supports such interaction) an opportunity to receive the Corresponding
> Source of your version by providing access to the Corresponding Source
> from a network server at no charge, through some standard or customary
> means of facilitating copying of software. This Corresponding Source
> shall include the Corresponding Source for any work covered by version 3
> of the GNU General Public License that is incorporated pursuant to the
> following paragraph."
>
> -Brian
>
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-- 
-- 
James P. Kinney III
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