The issue of unlicensed codecs in Linux was brought up by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, who was heavily criticized for not knowing about, or not mentioning, and other ways of obtaining licensed codecs. The CERIAS security seminars, for example, use h.264. This impacts open source players such as Totem, Amarok, Mplayer or Rythmbox. and Canadian citizens compared to other countries. Due to software patents in the U.S., codecs from sound to movies such as h.264 need to be licensed, regardless of how unpalatable the law may be, and of how this situation is unfair to U.S. Those warnings are easily forgotten afterwards, perhaps despite good intentions to correct the situation. Warning dialogs (e.g., in Ubuntu) provide no practical alternative to installing the codecs, and are an unwelcome interruption to workflow. Even fewer know that the codecs they use are unlicensed, or what to do about it. As a beginner Linux user, I only recently realized that few people are aware or care that they are breaking U.S.
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February 2023
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