Battleangel | Personal

I ran across a little thing called “Vodei” the other day. It’s a nefarious “codec” — “Multimedia Processor” or video container more like it — which is used to encapsulate a video and audio stream in a proprietary format. What it does is effectively infect P2P networks with protected .avi files that require a non-standard “codec” to be installed for playback. The “Vodei Multimedia Processor” not only requires a paid license for the long haul but also manages to break other codecs that you may have installed to play .avi files. Not to mention the ethical situation of actually profiting from making copyrighted material available in a locked and proprietary system — one that may or may not in itself infringe upon various licenses. All in all contemptible and a worrisome trend.