I think you're mixing up AOSP and Google Apps / Play Services. AOSP is available under a standard open source license, and can be used by anyone under those te

I think you're mixing up AOSP and Google Apps / Play Services. AOSP is available under a standard open source license, and can be used by anyone under those terms. It's the use of Play Services and Google's Apps that requires specific permission and has relatively onerous terms. CyanogenMod can use Play Services, but it doesn't have to, and seems to be moving away from it entirely.