Fedora Struggles with Harm Reduction via Codec Buddy

“In public health, harm reduction is a practice that, rather
than trying to eradicate potentially dangerous choices like
prostitution, tries to minimize their effects. Often, the practice
involves a limited condoning of the practice, such as safe
injection sites for addicts. Harm reduction is the path that Fedora
8 has chosen on the issue of MP3 and other non-free codecs in the
form of Codec Buddy, a Codeina-based program that tries to educate
users about free software while giving them easy legal access to
codecs by linking to the commercial Fluendo site. It’s a decision
about which the Fedora Board and community leaders feel
considerable ambivalence…”

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