All things related to multicast

[Frank Fulchiero <>]

One intriguing rumor I have heard from some folks is that there are  
people that think VLC is somehow "illegal" to use.
I have not heard this directly, but only indirectly, so don't know  
how true it is.

If anyone on these lists has a recent article from a knowledgeable  
source backing up this claim, I would appreciate it if they would  
post the link.
Also, if anyone has a good argument that VLC is illegal, or breaks  
any laws, please post your reasoning.

There seems to be a little bit of "almost-fud" regarding this issue,  
and I think a public discussion would help clear the air.

The OSX version of VLC has been hosted on the Apple servers for a  
while now, and is the 13th most popular download:

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/

and there have been about 100 million downloads from the VLC site

http://www.videolan.org/stats/downloads.php

I doubt the above two facts would be true if there was something  
illegal about using or distributing VLC.

I know many of you belong to more than one list, so sorry for the  
cross-posting, but I'm trying to cover all interested parties, and I  
think this issue is important, as many of us are using VLC as clients.

Thanks,
Frank Fulchiero
Digital Media Specialist
Connecticut College