Various improvements to the section on copyright,

in particular including links to the USC.

gpl-lgpl.tex

@@ -304,47 +304,59 @@ to serve that sub-community.
 
 \section{How Does Software Become Free?}
 
-The last section set forth the freedoms and rights respected by Free
-Software. It presupposed, however, that such software exists. This
-section discusses how Free Software comes into existence. But first, it
-addresses how software can be non-Free in the first place.
+The previous section set forth key freedoms and rights that are referred to
+as ``software freedom''.  This section discusses the licensing mechanisms
+used to enable software freedom.  These licensing mechanism were ultimately
+created as a community-oriented ``answer'' to the existing proprietary
+software licensing mechanisms.  Thus, first, consider carefully why
+proprietary software exists in the first place.
 
-Software can be made proprietary only because it is governed by copyright
-law.\footnote{This statement is a bit of an oversimplification. Patents
-  and trade secrets can cover software and make it effectively non-Free,
-  one can contract away their rights and freedoms regarding software, or
-  source code can be practically obscured in binary-only distribution
-  without reliance on any legal system. However, the primary control
-  mechanism for software is copyright.} Copyright law, with respect to
-software, governs copying, modifying, and redistributing that
-software.\footnote{Copyright law in general also governs ``public
-  performance'' of copyrighted works. There is no generally agreed
-  definition for public performance of software and both GPLv2 and GPLv3
-  do not govern public performance.} By law, the copyright holder (a.k.a.
-the author) of the work controls how others may copy, modify and/or
-distribute the work. For proprietary software, these controls are used to
-prohibit these activities. In addition, proprietary software distributors
-further impede modification in a practical sense by distributing only
-binary code and keeping the source code of the software secret.
+Proprietary software exists at all only because it is governed by copyright
+law.\footnote{This statement is admittedly an oversimplification. Patents and
+  trade secrets can cover software and make it effectively non-Free, and one
+  can contract away their rights and freedoms regarding software, or source
+  code can be practically obscured in binary-only distribution without
+  reliance on any legal system.  However, the primary control mechanism for
+  software is copyright, and therefore this section focuses on how copyright
+  restrictions make software proprietary.} Copyright law, with respect to
+software, typically governs copying, modifying, and redistributing that
+software (For details of this in the USA, see
+\href{http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#106}{\S 106} and
+\href{http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#117}{\S 117} found in in
+\href{http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17}{Title 17} of the
+\textit{United States Code}).\footnote{Copyright law in general also governs
+  ``public performance'' of copyrighted works. There is no generally agreed
+  definition for public performance of software and both GPLv2 and GPLv3 do
+  not govern public performance.} By law (in the USA and in most other
+jurisdictions), the copyright holder (most typically, the author) of the work controls
+how others may copy, modify and/or distribute the work. For proprietary
+software, these controls are used to prohibit these activities. In addition,
+proprietary software distributors further impede modification in a practical
+sense by distributing only binary code and keeping the source code of the
+software secret.
 
-Copyright law is a construction. In the USA, the Constitution permits,
-but does not require, the creation of copyright law as federal
-legislation. Software, since it is an idea fixed in a tangible medium, is
-thus covered by the statues, and is copyrighted by default.
+Copyright is not a natural state, it is a legal construction. In the USA, the
+Constitution permits, but does not require, the creation of copyright law as
+federal legislation.  Software, since it is ``an original works of authorship
+fixed in any tangible medium of expression ...  from which they can be
+perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the
+aid of a machine or device'' (as stated in
+\href{http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/102}{USC 17 \S 102}), is thus
+covered by the statues, and is copyrighted by default.
 
-However, this legal construction is not necessarily natural. Software, in
-its natural state without copyright, is Free Software. In an imaginary
-world with no copyright, the rules would be different. In this
-world, when you received a copy of a program's source code, there would be
-no default legal system to restrict you from sharing it with others,
-making modifications, or redistributing those modified
+However, software, in its natural state without copyright, is Free
+Software. In an imaginary world with no copyright, the rules would be
+different. In this world, when you received a copy of a program's source
+code, there would be no default legal system to restrict you from sharing it
+with others, making modifications, or redistributing those modified
 versions.\footnote{There could still exist legal systems, like our modern
-  patent system, which could restrict the software in other ways.}
+  patent system, which could restrict the software in other ways, as well as
+  technical measures, such as binary-only distribution, that impeded such activity.}
 
 Software in the real world is copyrighted by default and is
 automatically covered by that legal system.  However, it is possible
 to move software out of the domain of the copyright system.  A
-copyright holder is always permitted to \defn{disclaim} their
+copyright holder can often \defn{disclaim} their
 copyright.  If copyright is disclaimed, the software is not governed
 by copyright law. Software not governed by copyright is in the
 ``public domain.''