Providing source for .iso files downloaded using bittorrent

["Marcelo E. Magallon" <mmagallo@debian.org>]

Hi everyone,

 the request to stop redistributing Debian in Germany sparked an
 interesting conversation in identi.ca:

 http://identi.ca/conversation/69498913

 In that conversation Bradley Kuhn said:

    bkuhn @vinzv, Please note: *technically speaking*, !Debian
    project itself violates !GPlv2 w/ #torrent distribution too!
    All who use it infringe ©.

 Richard Fontana does not agree:

    fontana @bkuhn I think to some degree you are engaging in
    #FUD on the # bittorrent !GPL issue

 Asking Bradley for some clarification he said:

    bkuhn @mem, problem is question of informing #torrent users
    when source/binary torrents are separate. See !GPLv3 §6(e) &
    various supporting docs.

 The best thing I was able to find to provide some light into the
 issue was:

    mem @bkuhn ah, here:
    http://gplv3.fsf.org/bittorrent-dd2.pdf/view #torrent #gpl

 Now, back to the Debian case, Bradley seems to think that
 providing a method to download the source (e.g. apt-get source)
 is not enough.  If I understand it correctly, he's saying we
 must do something extra to comply with GPLv2§3: a) provide the
 source *in* the .iso; b) provide a written offer and all that;
 or c) show that we have a written offer from upstream.  a) is
 not going to happen, we don't have c) in the general case so b)
 it is (from his point of view).

 My interpretation of the whole thing is that in order to comply
 with the terms of the GPLv2, we should put yet another file,
 README.GPLv2, in the .iso explaining how to obtain the sources
 and accompany that with the offer to provide source for three
 years, etc, etc, etc per GPLv2§3(b).

 I have to say that I'm still not 100% clear on how the violation
 is happening, but this was obviously a real concern during the
 drafting of the GPLv3, since the new version does contain
 clauses meant to deal with this.  If I'm not mistaken our very
 own MRJ raised the issue during that process.

 My own concern is that when using Bittorrent, the people
 downloading the .iso start distributing the software *before*
 they had a chance to read the license.  By redistributing you
 are already excersicing your rights under the GPLv2, which means
 you have accepted all the terms and conditions.

 What do you think?

 Marcelo