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Open source doesn’t have to obey the laws of any particular jurisdiction. Corporations do.

VLC is illegal in the US. But it’s legal in France and that’s all that matters.

Corporations don't care about Open Source as long as they have control and influence over the usage and "licensing" and "regulation" of the technology.

BTW, I think your statement regarding VLC is reversed, it's illegal in France but not in the USA.

No, right way round; in France, interoperability trumps anti-circumvention, in the USA, other way around due to the trafficking clause.

Out of curiosity, why is it illegal in the US? Is it the decss stuff?

Not sure if above had France and the US flipped or not, but this is all I could find for US: https://www.howtogeek.com/138969/why-watching-dvds-on-linux-... (from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VLC_media_player#References > [17])

TL;DR yes, presumably decss stuff

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