Raul Miller writes:
The deception is calling it "great lengths." When I said the GPL
"deals with collective works in just two paragraphs" you focused on
the one where they are mentioned by name and entirely ignored the
other (because you don't like what it says?).
You seem to be ignoring everything the GPL says about "works based on
the Program".
Maybe you don't realize it, but a "mere aggregation" is also a work
based on the Program: it is a collective work. Exactly how many
collective works are covered by that phrase is open to debate, but you
cannot ignore the GPL's treatment of such works.
Michael