Oct 05, 2022 15:00:00

Developer sends legal notice to government agency for free media player 'VLC' official site blocked in India

VLC Media Player (VLC) is an open source free multimedia player used by users all over the world. However, in 2022, VLC's official website was blocked in India, and it was reported that the French non-profit organization ' VideoLAN ', which develops VLC, sent a legal notice to the Indian government agency. It is

VLC-developer VideoLAN sends legal notice to Indian ministries over ban | TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2022/10/04/vlc-developer-videolan-sends-legal-notice-to-indian-ministries-over-ban/

VideoLAN threatens to sue India gov't as ISPs keep blocking VLC website | Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/10/videolan-gets-no-answers-on-why-website-is-blocked-in-india-threatens-to-sue-govt/

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in India have blocked access to the VLC official website since February 13, 2022. When trying to access the VLC official website URL `` https://www.videolan.org/ '' from within India, a notification `` The requested URL has been blocked by instructions from the Government Telecommunications Department of India '' is displayed. It seems to be done.

According to Jean-Baptsite Kempf, president and lead developer of VideoLAN, India is one of the world's largest markets for VLC, accounting for 10% of the global user base. As a result, traffic on the official website has plummeted after the block, and there is a danger that over 80 million users in India will be led to 'a dubious third-party website that bundles malware with VLC,' Kempf said. I am warning you.

Free multimedia player 'VLC' official site turned out to be blocked in India - GIGAZINE

In this regard, VideoLAN sent alegal notice to the Indian Telecommunications Authority on September 30, 2022, with the support of the Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF), an Internet advocacy group in India. The document pointed out that the official website was blocked without prior notice to VideoLAN or Indian citizens, and without explaining why, ``violating Indian law and previous judicial precedents.'' doing.

VideoLAN has sent the Indian Telecommunications Authority a copy of the reasonable order for URL blocking and requested that a public hearing be held to give VideoLAN an opportunity to defend itself. He claimed that legal proceedings would be initiated if proper action was not taken.

The IFF said, 'We believe VideoLAN has the legal right to make these demands, and we hope the government will comply in accordance with the letter and spirit of the law. We will continue to provide legal assistance to VideoLAN regarding illegal censorship.'

In a previous report, there was speculation that ``the reason for blocking VideoLAN in India was a misunderstanding by government officials who saw reports of cyber crimes that abused VLC exports,' ' Kempf said. According to the report, the block in India began weeks before the hack was reported, suggesting there may be other reasons.