'The revolution will be televised,' is the message going out today as the non-profit Participatory Culture Foundation launches Democracy, the "world's first" open source internet TV system.

The Democracy video player, available free for Windows, Mac and Linux, takes advantage of open internet technologies to deliver an online video experience which its followers believe rivals any proprietary technology.

Democracy builds on RSS, Firefox and BitTorrent technologies to allow users to watch, share, broadcast and download video over the internet as high digital resolution, full screen, continuous non-buffered play, on an open standards environment free of adware or spyware.

"The days of waiting for internet video to buffer and watching it in a tiny box are over," said Nicholas Reville, co-founder of the Participatory Culture Foundation.

"While every major media corporation in the world is trying to find a way to lock users into closed and proprietary technologies, we want to ensure that video on the internet is as open and accessible as websites and blogs."

The Democracy Internet TV system is being supported by private donors, including Andy Rappaport, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, and Mitch Kapor, founder of Lotus and chairman of the Mozilla Foundation.

The Democracy player is available for download here.