India Lifts Download Ban On VLC (techcrunch.com) 11
India has lifted the download ban on VLC, more than nine months after it mysteriously blocked the official website of the popular media playback software in the South Asian market. From a report: VideoLAN, the popular software's developer, filed a legal notice last month seeking an explanation from the nation's IT and Telecom ministries for the block order. The Ministry of Electronics and IT has removed its ban on the website of VLC media player, New Delhi-based advocacy group Internet Freedom Foundation, which provided legal support to VideoLAN, said on Monday. VideoLAN confirmed the order. Indian telecom operators began blocking VideoLAN's official website, where it lists links to downloading VLC, in February of this year, VideoLAN president and lead developer Jean-Baptiste Kempf told TechCrunch in an earlier interview. India is one of the largest markets for VLC.
But ... (Score:5, Interesting)
... did they ever explain why they put the block in place in the first place? Or can we assume that it was something way too stupid to actually admit to?
Re:But ... (Score:5, Informative)
They did, malware distributors were using infected VLC as a vehicle.
This is of course way stupid, because India only banned the *legitimate* source of VLC, which was never a risk, meaning the malware distributors were not hurt at all, and in fact with the legitimate site unavailable, became an even more dominate channel for VLC distribution.
Re:But ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Okay, so they explained it AND it was too stupid to admit to.
Re: But ... (Score:2)
Yeah. Looks like they really stepped in it with that decision.
Re:But ... (Score:4, Insightful)
> Okay, so they explained it AND it was too stupid to admit to.
Which everybody knew from Day One but apparently it took this long to figure out which innocent underling was going to get thrown off the bridge for an incompetent bureaucrat's decision.
website blocks (Score:5, Insightful)
The ability to block a website is a little disturbing.
Re:website blocks (Score:5, Funny)
There are legitimate reasons for blocking a web site, such as any site that says I'm wrong about something. Unfortunately, all too many governments are prone to abusing that power to block sites for less honorable reasons.