Re: CDDL, OpenSolaris, Choice-of-venue and the star package ...

[Matthew Garrett <mgarrett@chiark.greenend.org.uk>]

Michael Poole <mdpoole@troilus.org> wrote:
> Matthew Garrett writes:
>> What's the point in us worrying about licenses granting freedoms that
>> can't actually be exercised in life? There is no "freedom not to be
>> sued", so it's impossible for a license to contravene that.
> 
> There are the DFSG freedoms to not have to pay a fee and to not be
> discriminated against, and licenses can contravene those.  Even though
> a sociopath can impose costs on an arbitrary person, we should not
> treat being vicimized by a sociopath as the baseline for freedom.

Right, but the "cost" being suggested only appears when someone is sued
frivilously (I'm assuming that we don't think that the freedom to
contravene a license without being sued is something to worry about...),
which approximates sociopathic behaviour. What practical difference does
a choice of venue clause make to the user?

-- 
Matthew Garrett | mjg59-chiark.mail.debian.legal@srcf.ucam.org