Question on legalities

[Michael Lustfield]

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Don't forget that all you need to do is
apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

Then you don't need to worry about package selections or keeping things
up to date. Unless bandwidth is a big deal where you're from. To me it
just seams like the easiest option.

On Wed, 6 Jan 2010 20:53:40 +0100
Christophe Sauthier <christophe.sauthier at gmail.com> wrote:

> You might also be interested in medibuntu which is maintained by some
> Ubuntu developpers.
> 
>       Christophe
> 
> On Wed, Jan 6, 2010 at 8:33 PM, Martin Owens <doctormo at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hey Neil,
> >
> > It really does depend on what codecs and extras.
> >
> > For all of the totem plugins, you should be fine. Those plugins aren't
> > illegal in any way, anywhere in the world. There is just a legal grey
> > area about weather or not that Free Software, maybe, possibly, could be
> > covered by patents which maybe, possibly be attractive to the owners to
> > sue over. Even then it's a civil case matter, not a criminal one.
> >
> > For w32codecs and ms-corefonts, that's illegal. It's copyright
> > infringement if you start dishing them out.
> >
> > For playing encrypted dvds, libdvdcss2, check to see if your country has
> > enacted a law similar to the EUCD and DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright
> > Act) and also check for clauses that allow for the breaking of
> > encryption for compatibility. For instance in this case it's probably
> > more ok to use libdvdcss in the USA than it is in the EU since the
> > American got a weak compatibility clause that could offer protection.
> >
> > I think you can ship the flash player deb, but you'll also need to get
> > the flash player binary that the deb downloads. Check the licensing
> > agreement to see if you can redistribute.
> >
> > IANAL, this is just what I've picked up.
> >
> > Martin,
> >
> > On Wed, 2010-01-06 at 18:39 +0200, Neil Coetzer wrote:
> >> Hi all,
> >>
> >> I would like to get some input on whether or not our LoCo should be
> >> involved in the following sort of project:
> >>
> >> The most common query/complaint we receive from new Ubuntu users in
> >> Zimbabwe concerns the lack of proprietary codecs, particularly in
> >> light of the fact that a lot of people here have no Internet access at
> >> all and are therefore unable to install them later in the usual
> >> manner.
> >>
> >> To solve this problem, a script has been written with a graphical
> >> front-end, to install these codecs offline (packaged with a cache of
> >> the required packages).
> >>
> >> Our concerns are that since these codecs are not shipped with Ubuntu
> >> for reasons of the legalities involved, would it be acceptable for us
> >> to make the script and package cache available on our LoCo site or
> >> not? We would like to have this available on our LoCo Web site (mostly
> >> for team members to be able to download and then use later offline
> >> where necessary), but if the general feeling on this is that it
> >> wouldn't be "right", then I'll possibly place it on my company site
> >> instead.
> >>
> >> Any feedback would be appreciated.
> >>
> >> --
> >> Regards,
> >>
> >> Neil Coetzer
> >> Team Contact
> >> Ubuntu Zimbabwe LoCo Team
> >> -------------------------------------------
> >> http://www.ubuntu.org.zw
> >> http://zimbabwe.ubuntuforums.org
> >> http://www.ubuntu-zw.org
> >> -------------------------------------------
> >> http://www.karigon.net
> >> Thinking way outside the box
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > loco-contacts mailing list
> > loco-contacts at lists.ubuntu.com
> > https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/loco-contacts
> >
> 


- -- 
Michael Lustfield
Kalliki Software

Network and Systems Administrator
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