while this is one *small* aspect of copyleft, the *GPL extends well beyond that. "fair use" does not allow you to redistribute work,
Yes, it does, that it what fair use is: The right to distribute somebody elses work or part of work without a license under some circumstances.
you're right. I was just thinking in terms of backups and work as a whole. Good reading: http://www-sul.stanford.edu/cpyright.html
The *GPL extends the circumstances where I can take somebodies work.
but isn't this notion rather frightening?
nor does it force you to give up your copyright (effectively).
Neither does the LGPL you can still license the code to others under any license. You just have to give it back under the LGPL as well.
if you have to give out an unlimited, royalty free license to your work, I think it's not unfair to say that you have given up your copyright protection. As the copyright holder, it's true that you can relicense it to suit other licenses, but it's not clear to me that you can clearly make a copyright infringment case if there is an LGPLed copy in the public.
-r
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Roger Fujii