Comment Re:Forced benevolence is not freedom (Score 1) 551
Actually, in your scenario, the source code does not lose its "freedom", but the derivative work never gets it. This means that the changes never get back to the community, but the original code is there as fee as ever.
It's important to note that I can take a piece of GPL software and modify it and still not give the changes back to the community. In fact, even if I distribute my modified software, I only have to give the changes to whomever I distribute it to. Of course, I can't then stop them from giving it away to anybody who asks.