Are Ubuntu restricted extras legal in the USA?

[Revolutionary101]

I have been a proud Ubuntu user and I have cast away the oppressive chains of Microsoft. Recently I have been trying to spread the Ubuntu love. Today my brother-in-law (a fellow computer geek and Ubuntu virgin) wanted me to help him install Ubuntu. I told him what the process involved and what we would need to do. When I told him about the Ubuntu restricted extras he wondered if it was legal in the USA. I have never looked into if it is legal or not I just always downloaded it without a second thought. My brother is highly opposed to downloading this if it is illegal. Also if it is illegal how does Linux Mint get away with it?

[PC_load_letter]

Take a look at the following thread, from the LinuxMint forums:
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=22377

[Revolutionary101]

Thank you for clearing that up for me.

[cascade9]

After reading that, I would debate 'illegal'.

Its probably a grey area, but I really dont think that its straight out 'illegal'. You can get d/l lots of free mp3, wma, m4v, DVD etc players for windows and nobody bothers them about legality (or any of the linux users who get that stuff for that matter).

[JackRock]

I would say that the actual package is not illegal. But, like anything else, what you do with it may be illegal in the USA. For example, I'm going through my Security+ course right now, and there are a ton of tools they talk about that are built for network admins. But they are also very capable of enabling hackers to do many bad things.

So it's about use and intent. Not a black and white thing.

[oldos2er]

"My brother is highly opposed to downloading this if it is illegal."

You can purchase codecs to make it legal: http://shop.canonical.com/index.php?cPath=19&currency=USD