I initially had some misunderstandings based on the lay-explanations of the license. I think I finally have a correct understanding now. The relevant portion o

I initially had some misunderstandings based on the lay-explanations of the license. I think I finally have a correct understanding now. The relevant portion of AGPL is section 13. "if you modify the Program, your modified version must prominently offer all users interacting with it remotely through a computer network (if your version supports such interaction) an opportunity to receive the Corresponding Source". Notice that the right to receive the source code belongs to the user. Not to the upstream author. So if you do run a private test, then only the people in your test have that right. Since this was not intended to be public, you could argue that the public does not have a right to the source. Now if the program did not offer the source to the legitimate users that is indeed a violation, but the way to cure it is to offer the legitimate users the source.