The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) has lifted the ban at the web page of VLC Media Participant, just about 9 months after first issuing instructions to dam the web page of VideoLAN, the non-profit that operates VLC Media Participant and from the place the applying will also be downloaded.
In October, MeitY had despatched a letter to VideoLAN detailing the explanations in the back of blockading its web page within the nation, announcing that the web page used to be censored for allegedly speaking with servers of a prior to now banned app, referred to as Onmyoji Enviornment, which used to be shifting delicate personal data of Indians to a “hostile country”, The Indian Categorical had first reported. MeitY’s letter had come after VideoLAN, with the help of the Delhi-based virtual rights team Web Freedom Basis, had issued a prison realize to the ministry in the hunt for to understand the explanations for which the web page have been blocked in India. On Monday, the ministry despatched an electronic mail to VideoLAN announcing that the “competent authority has licensed unblocking the area videolan.org,” The Indian Categorical has learnt.
Whilst the e-mail didn’t entail any explanation why as to why it determined to raise the ban on VideoLAN’s web page, it got here after VideoLAN despatched an in depth reaction to MeitY’s October letter, explaining the problems with MeitY’s reasoning. Remaining week, the federal government additionally convened a digital listening to the place representatives of VideoLAN, this paper has learnt. In its reaction to MeitY, despatched on November 6, VideoLAN denied claims that its web page used to be speaking to servers within the “antagonistic nation”. It stated that its web page does no longer transmit any person knowledge to its servers, that are all situated within the geographical territory of France, with the only exception of the identify of the working gadget and its model.
“On VideoLAN’s servers, we host the VideoLAN web page, a computer virus tracker and a mechanism for VLC Media Participant to test for the present model and ask the person to replace the applying, if the model introduced on our server is more moderen than the model put in via the person,” the organisation is learnt to have instructed the ministry, consistent with assets.
“That is finished to extend protection and cybersecurity of customers, since newest variations of programs have enhanced safety features and fixes for insects.”
Queries despatched to the IT Ministry remained unanswered till newsletter.
VideoLAN additionally stated that the VLC Media Participant is being utilized by 80 million Indian customers who can be compelled to obtain the applying and its updates from unauthorised third-party web pages, making them “much more prone to knowledge robbery and cybersecurity incidents”.
In its October letter, MeitY had depended on quite a lot of “open supply risk intelligence reviews” to conclude that VLC Media Participant used to be utilized by a China-backed hacking team referred to as ‘Cicada’ for wearing out cyber assaults. Then again, in reaction, VideoLAN stated, “Neither the main points of this ‘customized malware loader’ nor the style during which the alleged hackers related to the Chinese language executive use the VLC media participant had been equipped (via the ministry)”.
