My try to make it short: open with a sentence with what you want so that they
can read clearly what the letter is about. Your choice of subject line is
important as well as it might be the only thing they see. I am not sure, but
they might come back with something like ogg not being viewable in iPads so
maybe only choose one format? I am tempted to leave both formats and let iPad
users out in the cold.
==========
To who it may concern,
Could the videos on the Toronto Police Service be in *.webm or *.ogg format?
This is to accomodate a few issues related to video disclosure. The issues,
in my view, arise because video disclosure arrives in proprietary formats,
and as proprietary software.
Free formats allow anyone to read the technical specifications, write
software to run the format, and use the format. Non-free (proprietary)
formats do not. By “free”, I mean those specific freedoms, and not price.
The freedoms (and free formats) guarentee interoperability, a competitive
commercial market for playback, and also gratis (as in free in price) options
for playback. Non-free formats are like trade secrets and impose a particular
software solution. With non-free formats, interoperatibility and market
competition exist at the format-owner's discretion. The format-owner can also
decide not to allow gratis playback options; this raises access-to-justice
concerns.
Prorpietary software is a privacy concern, because lawyers must trust it not
to access lawyers' and clients' information on the computer. Disclosure as
proprietary software raises this concern. Disclosure in a proprietary format
raises the concern as well, because it encourages lawyers to use proprietary
software.
Free formats allow playback with free software, and also with proprietary
software. Free sofware allows public audits. The audits give lawyers a reason
to trust free software not to access lawyers' and clients' information on the
computer.
Here are two examples of free video formats: http://theora.org/ ,
http://www.webmproject.org/
The Toronto Police Service already provides document disclosure in a free
format (PDF). I am hopeful that the Service will adopt a similarly free
policy for video disclosure.
I am happy to be contacted if you need further information.
Kind regards,
