Re: gpl and hosted apps

[David M.Besonen <davidb@panix.com>]

On Fri, 3 Feb 2006 18:45:29 -0500, Glenn Maynard <glenn@zewt.org>
wrote:

>On Fri, Feb 03, 2006 at 02:52:41PM -0800, David M.Besonen wrote:
>> does the gpl (v2 or v3-draft) address the issue of hosted apps?
>> specifically, does the gpl prevent someone from taking code, modifying
>> it, and putting it on a server and charging people to use the app
>> without making the source available?
>
>GPLv2 does not.  The GPLv3 draft attempts to.  In my opinion, it does
>not do so in a satisfactory way, causing various practical problems.
>You can find discussions on the list archives, eg.
>
>  http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2006/01/msg00213.html

thanks for the link.  i'll read the thread a bit later.

in the meanwhile, how would *you* word language in the gplv3 that
would cover this loophole (that's what i would call it)?

is there a general sense in the debian-legal community that modifying
gpl'd apps and then hosting them without releasing the modified source
is undesirable?

i would have though the fsf folks would have been all over this.
especially given the recent explosion of hosted apps.