French Tax Authority Suspected VLC in Facilitating Piracy
https://sp-security.blogspot.com/2017/02/french-tax-authority-suspected-vlc-in.html
VLC
is recognized as one of the most popular media players in the world,
accounting for more than 2bn downloads. The open-source player is able
to play virtually all video file types and is therefore recommended by
many services, including illegal ones. This fact has drawn the attention
of France's Tax Investigation Branch, which believed that VideoLAN
could have illegal deals.
VLC
Media Player is currently installed on millions of devices across the
globe and is regarded as one of the best tools to play videos and audio
of almost any type. If something cannot be played, this player almost
always provides the answer.
Like any other media player, VLC has lots of legal uses, although it is very popular among pirates as well. Some file-sharing websites even recommend using VLC to their users – for example, the French torrent site Torrent9 lists the player in its help section, and this is why the National Tax Investigation Branch of the French Ministry for the Economy and Finance suggested that VideoLAN could have close ties with the infringing site. The authority sent VideoLAN a letter asking for detailed information on Torrent9.biz, including complete customer details, bank details, payment methods and list of payments, along with a copy of the referencing contract for the Torrent9.biz and Torrent9.me domains. Apparently, the authority believes that VLC pays everyone who provides a link to its website.
VideoLAN planned to reply to the request with a blank piece of paper, but it received support from many people in relation to this absurd situation, after which the authorities eventually decided to back down and recognized their request as an “error of judgment”.
Thanks to TorrentFreak for providing the source of the article.
Posted by:
Like any other media player, VLC has lots of legal uses, although it is very popular among pirates as well. Some file-sharing websites even recommend using VLC to their users – for example, the French torrent site Torrent9 lists the player in its help section, and this is why the National Tax Investigation Branch of the French Ministry for the Economy and Finance suggested that VideoLAN could have close ties with the infringing site. The authority sent VideoLAN a letter asking for detailed information on Torrent9.biz, including complete customer details, bank details, payment methods and list of payments, along with a copy of the referencing contract for the Torrent9.biz and Torrent9.me domains. Apparently, the authority believes that VLC pays everyone who provides a link to its website.
VideoLAN planned to reply to the request with a blank piece of paper, but it received support from many people in relation to this absurd situation, after which the authorities eventually decided to back down and recognized their request as an “error of judgment”.
Thanks to TorrentFreak for providing the source of the article.
Posted by:
SaM
extratorrent
