Copyright notices (or the lack thereof) in kernel code

What I am saying is: if you have the git repo (that is acknowledged to have copyright attribution information) you are forbidden from shipping tarballs of just source off that (because that strips out the copyright information).

Assuming all source tarballs come from git sources, shipping of source-only tarballs would be illegal (used loosely) at some point (though maybe not for simply redistributing the tarball you got).

So let me clearly say "I am not a lawyer". With that out of the way, DMCA § 1204 provides for criminal charges (in some case, I recommend reading it for your self[1]). DMCA § 1203 provides for civil liabilities.

[1] https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/1204 see also the links to § 1202 b.2, and § 1202 c for definitions of terms