Being in the reps means nothing. Human error, right? :P
That being said, yes, VLC is free software. However, some codecs it uses might be problematic in some parts of the world. However, that is a matter that affects ALL players. If you use free software to read patented formats, you might get trouble. Solution? Use open/free formats. I am not sure if XVid and X264 are also troublesome, to be safe stay with FLAC, OGG, WebM, etc.
