It helps if you read the license before talking about the spirit of the license. In the very first paragraph it says: "the GNU General Public License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free software".
If I can't change the software that runs in the device, then I can't change the software. The letter and spirit of the license, ie, to use, share and change software, is fundamental broken if you add restrictions to use, share or change the software.
To take an other quote: "you must give the recipients all the rights that you have". Again, letter and spirit is stated directly. If you have rights to use, share, or change things, give that too to the recipient.
(all quotes taken from GPLv2 license text - Preamble).
If I can't change the software that runs in the device, then I can't change the software. The letter and spirit of the license, ie, to use, share and change software, is fundamental broken if you add restrictions to use, share or change the software.
To take an other quote: "you must give the recipients all the rights that you have". Again, letter and spirit is stated directly. If you have rights to use, share, or change things, give that too to the recipient.
(all quotes taken from GPLv2 license text - Preamble).