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FLOSS: Accept no substitutes
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| Free-as-in-freedom software is very often free-as-in-beer, too. This is
| normally a good thing. But one open source project developer is calling out a
| troubling problem with free software: counterfeit applications.
|
| The problem, according to VideoLAN developer Ludovic Fauvet, is this:
| VideoLAN's highly regarded VLC Media Player, which is licensed under the GPL,
| is being redistributed by various organizations' websites, some of which claim
| that VLC is actually their application to distribute. These websites attract
| users with paid Google AdWords ads that come up in various media-player
| related searches.
|
| Right off the bat, this would be a clear violation of VideoLAN's intellectual
| property, but it gets worse. Many of the sites that redistribute VLC have
| wrapped the binary in installers that also install malware in the form of
| adware and spyware on unsuspecting user's computers, too.
|
| "What bothers us the most is that many of them are bundling VLC with various
| crapware to monetize it in ways that mislead our users by thinking theyâre
| downloading an original version. This is not acceptable. The result is a poor
| product that doesnât work as intended, that canât be uninstalled and that
| clearly abuses its users and their privacy," Fauvet wrote in his blog.
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http://www.itworld.com/security/182757/floss-accept-no-substitutes
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