From e893d9d78296fe33d2aaf04284848ba99eda13c4 2014-03-18 22:33:18 From: Bradley M. Kuhn Date: 2014-03-18 22:33:18 Subject: [PATCH] Wordsmith and typo fixes. --- diff --git a/gpl-lgpl.tex b/gpl-lgpl.tex index f661a2a922b88178a98cd9d4fbb3909d252175b0..a6c8a65418474ceb3c2b5c186b5d0a9c325b343b 100644 --- a/gpl-lgpl.tex +++ b/gpl-lgpl.tex @@ -1967,26 +1967,26 @@ formal agreement between the licensee and the software distributor to be valid. This has led to mechanisms like ``shrink-wrap'' and ``click-wrap'' as mechanisms to perform acceptance ceremonies with EULAs. -The GPL does not need contract law to ``transfer rights.'' No rights -are transfered between parties. By contrast, the GPL is a permission +The GPL does not need contract law to ``transfer rights.'' Usually, no rights +are transfered between parties. By contrast, the GPL is primarily a permission slip to undertake activities that would otherwise have been prohibited -by copyright law. As such, it needs no acceptance ceremony; the +by copyright law. As such, GPL needs no acceptance ceremony; the licensee is not even required to accept the license. However, without the GPL, the activities of copying, modifying and -distributing the software would have otherwise been prohibited. So, the +distributing the software would have otherwise been prohibited. So, the GPL says that you only accepted the license by undertaking activities that you would have otherwise been prohibited without your license under GPL\@. This is a certainly subtle point, and requires a mindset quite different from the contractual approach taken by EULA authors. An interesting side benefit to GPLv2~\S5 is that the bulk of users of Free -Software are not required to accept the license. Undertaking fair and +Software are not required to accept the license. Undertaking fair and unregulated use of the work, for example, does not bind you to the GPL, since you are not engaging in activity that is otherwise controlled by -copyright law. Only when you engage in those activities that might have an +copyright law. Only when you engage in those activities that might have an impact on the freedom of others does license acceptance occur, and the -terms begin to bind you to fair and equitable sharing of the software. In +terms begin to bind you to fair and equitable sharing of the software. In other words, the GPL only kicks in when it needs to for the sake of freedom.