Technical Point
I thought there was an old legal principle that for a contract to exist, there had to be 'consideration'. This essentially means there has to have been some form of payment by one party that had been accepted or acknowledged by the other party. (The payment need not be money, it could be work done as part of the contract.)
When I download some GPL software, there has been no 'consideration' between myself and the rights-holder so I'm wondering how there can be a legally binding contract between us. There is of course my implied acceptance of the licensing terms of the GPL.
Is American law different as regards 'consideration'?
Biting the hand that feeds IT
