Re: When is a GPL program which runs in a web site 'conveyed'?

[Hyman Rosen]

Tim Smith wrote:
> I think you've overlooked what the AGPL itself says.  It explicitly says 
> that if what you are doing is allowed by copyright law, it is NOT 
> "modifying" as far as the AGPL is concerned.  That's the intent of the 
> licensor.

But the question is, what is allowed by copyright law?
It's the intent of the license that the program offer
its source, and that this not be changed. If a U.S. court
holds that this is a legitimate provision of the license
under copyright law (which it would be, except that the
17 USC 117 provision may override it) then it will be
forbidden to remove it. I agree with the skeptics that
the AGPL is going to be tougher to uphold than the GPL
should it be contested.

> If they had wanted something stronger, they could have easily written 
> the license to define modification as being any change from the original.

No, they cannot, because as rjack points out, the courts
have decided that a copyright license can only prohibit that
which is already disallowed under copyright absent any license.
The only thing the GPL (and AGPL) can do is grant you extra
freedoms.