Is it legal to use the packages on MediUbuntu inside the US?

Hi,

I am not a laywer, but I would say that most of our packages aren't legal in the US (but ok in many other countries, that's why we are hosted in Europe).

About the most used packages:
- The non-free codecs (w32/w64/ppc codecs) are probably the worst case (redistribution of binary dll from windows), but they shouldn't be needed anymore (ffmpeg, vlc and mplayer are able to read wmv/vma).
- I am not sure about libdvdcss: afaik, CSS protection is patented, but it's the only way to decrypt and read them on Linux.

But so far, nobody reported having legal issues by installing these packages, so it should be ok for you too. ;)

*g*

> - I am not sure about libdvdcss: afaik, CSS protection is patented, but it's the only way to decrypt and read them on Linux.
 them = commercial/video dvds

The thing with the libdvdcss is that the laws are rather confused and bought by the mpaa. It's illegal to work around/disable/break/whatever the encryption on a DVD, because the MPAA wants to keep us from copying DVDs. However, most people these days can copy a DVD without having to work around the encryption, they just make a disc image or something. So in order to do what you should legally be able to do (just watch a DVD you legally purchased) you need to break the law and work around the DVD encryption using a program that's not licensed by the MPAA and affiliates.

Frankly, if something like this got to court, you'd likely win as all you're doing is watching DVDs you own on the device of your choice, as long as any copies of DVDs that reside on your harddrive (and you can bet that the MPAA and their rabid attack lawyers will find a way to get your computer as evidence if this happens) are of DVDs you actually own. They try to claim copying for archival purposes is illegal too, but after that DVD jukebox company won their court case, you should be protected under fair use laws on that.

I suppose the long and short on the libdvdcss is that it technically is illegal, but the laws making it so are technically illegal and in violation of our fair use rights, so use it knowing that and knowing that the MPAA hasn't started attacking home linux users yet, just big companies offering useful products that do the same thing, and they're losing these cases.