GPL v2 if I just roll out my own application on my own servers am i allowed to use a component that has this license?

Question

with regards to this: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html

I'm trying to understand GPL v2, my case is that I deploy my application on my application server on some servers over the internet, I do not sell my application, I just sell service.

Am I allowed to use components within my app server that has this license? GPL v2?

second story: If I modify this component sources - I still do not sell my app server or nothing just a service, am I allowed to modify this component source and still use it? (it has GPL v2 license)

Thanks

Answer 1

In both cases, you're allowed to do it without redistributing the source code.

This is sometimes called the ASP loophole. Only the Affero GPL covers this "loophole" (which the FSF does not see as a loophole, since they did not include the extra clause in GPLv3).

Answer 2

Yes, but it's really impolite :(