Can you alter the MIT license?

[Scott Johnston]

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>From: Jules Bean <jmlb2 at hermes.cam.ac.uk>

>However, 'public domain' is often used of software to mean software which
>the author has disclaimed all rights on.  This doesn't mean that it isn't
>their copyright - it simply means that they have given blanket permission
>for anybody to do anything with it.  However, it doesn't mean that someone
>else can pick it up and put their conditions on it - since they don't own
>the copyright. [Compare the situation of me owning an attractive riverside
>meadow.  I put up a big sign saying 'This is a beautiful meadow, and I
>make it available to the community.  You may without restriction eat here,
>camp here, etc...'.  That, in some sense, puts the meadow in the public
>domain, but it doesn't make it any less *my* meadow.  Of course the
>analogy is far from perfect, since meadows can't be copied, and software
>can be very easily copied...]

Then why does the GRASS development team feel they can apply the GPL to a
public domain GIS system originally developed and published by the US Army? 
Every distribution up to version 4.x is public domain, every distribution
after that will be GPL'ed.  A better example is Bruce Perens GPL'ing of the
public domain TIGER map database last year from the US Census Bureau.  I
doubt any judge would rule that Bruce made significant changes to this
database before offering a GPL'ed copy for sale/download.

Scott Johnston