[Foundation-l] We should permit Flash video playback

[Ben McIlwain]

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Tim Starling wrote:
> Anthony wrote:
>> On 7/21/07, Peter Halasz <email at pengo.org> wrote:
> [...]
>>> Allowing Proprietary Flash clients to display our Free OGG content is
>>> a Good Thing, even if we have to transcode to flv to get it there.
>>> Playback is not a zero sum game -- we can support different clients.
>>> Let's not get pretend this is the same as supporting FLV as a native
>>> file format -- it's not. It's only about playback.
>>>
>> Is this definitely legal?  Can the WMF transcode OGG to flv without
>> permission from anyone?  If so, I really don't see the problem, per
>> the reasons you give.  But Kat mentioned this:
>>
>> "So, great, you can edit the theora version with only free tools, but
>> then you can't update the Flash version; you're dependent on someone
>> willing to play by their rules to do so."
>>
>> This implies that some sort of permission is needed to transcode OGG
>> to flv (or maybe it has to be done outside the US).
>>
>> I guess I could just look up the answer to this, but there are
>> probably others on this list wondering similar things.
> 
> You don't need permission. At most you need a patent license, but MPEG LA
> don't charge for noncommercial use of open source encoders, and they don't
> charge for "free internet broadcast" either.

Since when has non-commercial ever been good enough for Wikipedia?
Non-commercial restrictions go fundamentally against the nature of free
content.  What good is it if we can do the transcoding because we're
non-commercial, but most of our mirrors can't?  Using proprietary
formats puts all sorts of restrictions and limitations on how our
content can be used by others, and that is unacceptable.

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