Well, the GPL gives you the right to modify anything as long as you license it under the GPL and include the license, and that would include the copyright notices.
The GPL gives nobody such rights to remove/move copyright notices. You only have the right to append your name and year to such a notice when you contribute changes to the work. Original copyright notices must be left alone as Kjella mentioned for United States in USC 17506(d), and it is required in the GPL as mentioned on the FAQ: I want to get credit for my work. I want people to know what I wrote. Can I still get credit if I use the GPL?.
Otherwise we'd have a problem with something like the BSD advertising clause.
The classic BSD license is incompatible with the GPL as only the so called revised or new BSD licenses that removed the advertising clause are compatible with the GPL as stated in the FAQ: Why is the original BSD license incompatible with the GPL?. So now would you please stop making assumptions and actually read the license you so carelessly claim it allows people to do things it clearly does not.
Funny how I see all the rage about Bank of America charging $5/month to use debit cards, but what about raging against banks such as SunTrust who wants to charge both $5/month for debit card usage and $7/month on banking accounts that have less than a required minimum that were forcefully converted from Free Checking to Standard Checking for a total of a $12/month fee charges and that would be $144 taken each year out of the poor's checking accounts. SunTrust also decided to cancel the monthly debit card usage fee for now, but they're still going to charge us poor folks who can't manage to keep at least $500 in the account a $7 fee each month.
Yeah, that seems so fair to charge the poor to have a checking account...
A motion to adjourn is always in order.