My first thought was that someone was engaging in click-bait journalism. Even the title of the post -- "Android GPLv2 termination worries - one more reason to upgrade to GPLv3" -- is something I would expect from anti-Android trolls, not the Free Software Foundation.
The conclusion at the bottom of the article, that companies using Android should urge Linux developers to switch to the GPLv3, is so bad it's not even wrong. It betrays a singular unawareness of the mobile market that Android serves.
Mobile phone manufacturers don't make different silicon for each market -- instead, they customize the software so that the phone can be type-approved by regulators and carriers in each country individually. Things like maximum transmitter output, radio channels, and how the device interacts with the cellular network all need to be customizable, and the device needs to be tamper-resistant.
A GPLv3 Android phone, with all the decryption keys available to any user on demand, is a non-starter. No manufacturer will make such an insecure-by-design device. No telco would put the stability of its network at such risk. No informed consumer would want one.
So what about those GPLv2 "permanent" terminations?
A New License Is Only a Download Away
"Take-it-or-leave-it" licenses like the GPL are a form of contract known variously as a "contract of adhesion," "boilerplate contract" or "standard form contract." As such, they are subject to special rules that require any ambiguities to always be resolved in favor of the recipient (contra proferentem). This "you made your bed, you sleep in it" approach is the same one we learned when we were kids -- whoever cuts the birthday cake can't complain about getting a smaller slice.
Contrary to the article's claim of "permanent termination" for violating the GPLv2 license, it's very easy to get a new license to resume distribution of a GPLv2 program. Just download or otherwise get a new copy, as per section 6 of the GPLv2, and you automatically receive a new license grant, which is valid for as long as you remain in compliance.
While this doesn't "whitewash" any problems that arose under the old license grant, it's clear that the new license cannot have additional restrictions, such as a past license termination, imposed on it.
6. Each time you redistribute the Program (or any work based on the Program), the recipient automatically receives a license from the original licensor to copy, distribute or modify the Program subject to these terms and conditions. You may not impose any further restrictions on the recipients' exercise of the rights granted herein. You are not responsible for enforcing compliance by third parties to this License. (emphasis added)
What does contra proferentum mean for entities that had a GPLv2 license instance terminated? Among other things, if they return to compliance, they have every right to rely on the automatic license grant provisions of section 6 of the GPL when they obtain a new copy of the program.
The word "permanently" never appears in the license, and any ambiguity as to whether the termination of a previous license under section 4 prohibits them from getting a new license must be resolved in their favor. Not that there's much room for ambiguity -- "Each time ... receives a license" makes it clear that every copy comes with its own license instance.
Quick Summary for the TL;DR Set
While it is true that section 4 of the GPLv2 license terminates your right to redistribute when you fall out of compliance, section 6 is equally clear when it states that you get a valid license from the copyright-holder with each new copy you receive. Resuming distribution is simply a matter of returning to compliance and downloading a new copy.
It's true that this won't "fix" previous compliance problems; depending on their nature, they may have to be negotiated with the copyright-holders or decided by a court, but the threat of the ultimate "big stick" -- of never being able to resume distribution with the new license automatically granted under section 6 -- is an attempt to impose restrictions that neither a plain reading of the license nor the rules dealing with take-it-or-leave-it contracts allows.
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