Importer of anime to the United States such as Bleach and Inuyasha, respectivly known as Odex have been contacting individuals illegally downloading anime from the Internet. Most of the students were younger students, ranging from College to Elementary School (the youngest case). Illegally downloading anime from the Internet has been a constant problem for importers and publishers alike. Part of the blame can be put on a restriction to money: Kids cannot pay the money to receive their anime, or are too embarassed to purchase it in a retail store.
The company (Odex) has been tracking these individuals, although the legality of that can be disputed. In one case, a family was charged with a $3000 fine for unspecified damages against Odex. The family coughed up the money. Odex also will not comment on how they track individuals, but they do claim that it is very easy to track when, where, and what is being downloaded illegally. From my perspective, it sounds like the pirates used a P2P filesharing program to download their anime. In P2P programs, a user dowloads a file from another connected user, and sometimes multiple users to download the entire file. My best guess is publishers have registered accounts on these P2P networks that pirates downloaded from, thus they could be caught. Whether spyware was used or not, I have no idea and will never know.
My thoughts on illegal downloading: it actually is wrong. If you are downloading something that you can purchase in the store: it is theft. Say you are downloading anime that has not been licensed yet, you are quite alright (destroy the files when they become licensed to be fair to publishers). I had kept a few files of Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni around in April 2006 as it was being translated by fandub and unlicensed. When it was licensed, I destroyed the files. When Geneon wanted to bring the anime to America, Youtube systematically hunted down any episodes and deleted them (you can still see openings and closings, or fan made anime music videos). Don't download illegally if you can buy from the store. Support your publishers and keep anime alive by purchasing DVDs and commodities released to give the publishers- and creators- credit. By illegally downloading, you are sending the anime industry farther down a hole (not thats it's in one, its a $260million dollar a year industry!) Buy something you know is available, and support the industry to keep bringing us great anime.
article reference: http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,137645,00.html
The company (Odex) has been tracking these individuals, although the legality of that can be disputed. In one case, a family was charged with a $3000 fine for unspecified damages against Odex. The family coughed up the money. Odex also will not comment on how they track individuals, but they do claim that it is very easy to track when, where, and what is being downloaded illegally. From my perspective, it sounds like the pirates used a P2P filesharing program to download their anime. In P2P programs, a user dowloads a file from another connected user, and sometimes multiple users to download the entire file. My best guess is publishers have registered accounts on these P2P networks that pirates downloaded from, thus they could be caught. Whether spyware was used or not, I have no idea and will never know.
My thoughts on illegal downloading: it actually is wrong. If you are downloading something that you can purchase in the store: it is theft. Say you are downloading anime that has not been licensed yet, you are quite alright (destroy the files when they become licensed to be fair to publishers). I had kept a few files of Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni around in April 2006 as it was being translated by fandub and unlicensed. When it was licensed, I destroyed the files. When Geneon wanted to bring the anime to America, Youtube systematically hunted down any episodes and deleted them (you can still see openings and closings, or fan made anime music videos). Don't download illegally if you can buy from the store. Support your publishers and keep anime alive by purchasing DVDs and commodities released to give the publishers- and creators- credit. By illegally downloading, you are sending the anime industry farther down a hole (not thats it's in one, its a $260million dollar a year industry!) Buy something you know is available, and support the industry to keep bringing us great anime.
article reference: http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,137645,00.html
3 comments:
Frankly saying, I don't blame them for doin this. But they should check the market, if they want to banned down loads of an specific anime, they should release the DVD or VCD in Singapore first. In this society, there are rich people who can afford such animation DVD or VCDs, but waht about those who dont have the money to afford one? If they want to stop these downloads, they should release the animation on DVD or VCD or a specific channels that show new anime. From waht I see many starhub and Local Singapore channels show animation that has already been aired in Japan 3 to 4 years ago. Due to them being inefficent, many prople resort to downloading such animation titles. No doubt Sinagpore is an effiecent society, but Odex failed to provide for the general public.
Don't blame me for saying this as I am just saying what I have in mind. Others might not think so, but if they want to banned such animation downloads, I have nothing to say as I usually buy such titles from online shops or in VCD shops which imports these titles from Taiwan or other countries.
A concerned citizen.
I agree, this is the core problem surrounding Anime-Piracy.
When I was younger I did not have the resource pool (money) to purchase anime or anything related to it. Instead of illegal downloading though, and without the support (much to my suprise, a disapproval) of my parents, I created my own lawncare business. I earned about $500 USD from the summer business, and from there my financual opportunities expanded fast.
I enjoy anime and what the industry has to offer. While I think downloading illegally is totally wrong, I have been in the exact center of the debate every person has- whether simple or complex. To illegally download or to buy? Most people will say to illegally download for free, but ultimatly this ends up hurting the business. Less business, less anime produced. I bit the bullet of being young and stepped out to make money and support the industry.
Older now, I look back on making the correct and ethical decision. I have money to spare and can order anime on the whim if I need to. I am frugal with my spending (I am picky with my spending, I may spend big sometimes but I don't buy every last thing) mainly because it is my money and once it's gone, I need to earn more of it.
Poor communication played a major role. When fans complained to Odex about the quality of their products - ranging from poor image resolution to bad translations, to poor monologue sound and packaging - Odex dismissed them as "perception problem" in the press. Their website has also been under construction for months, and even before that, their list of licensed titles was hardly updated. Worse, most of Odex's titles sold in Singapore are VCDs, hardly what fans want.
Anime is a niche market (even in Japan, albeit a hugely profitable one). In a market as small as Singapore's, distributors and fans must work together closely. This isn't helped by Odex's arrogance towards fans, nor by the fans' distrust of the company (which also runs the local AVPAS watchdog).
With the newest crack down, things can only get worse. Always the case when end-users in the thousands get slapped with out-of-court settlements that cost thousands of dollars ($3,000 - $5,000). Not helped when the company's director was later found gloating over it online.
There's nothing new in this debate over fansubs. Those in anime can tell you they contribute to soft-selling the industry and their prducts in ways pirating software, music, or movies don't. They also initiate non-fans into the genre and help the market grow. This is, after all, about a subculture and not just a mere "product".
It's a unique phenonmenon that watchers in the industry acknowledge, but is not studied (or appreciated) enough elsewhere.
Companies in and outside Japan know that, so they're hesitant to take drastic action.What they want is to ensure these illegal activities don't hurt their bottomline.
Odex blames downloads for their poor sales, but they too have to prove it isn't due to the quality of their products (as fans widely claim) and weak PR and marketing. If otakus in the local community are willing to take the more expensive option of importing from overseas, something must be amiss. What Odex must do is improve on their products from fan's feedback, engage the community to convince them of the quality, and get the fans behind them so as to support their brand. Fans on their part must give Odex a chance.
One party must stop dictating, another must start trusting. Yet with each letter Odex sends, and each article appearing in the press portraying anime downloaders as nothing more than rebellious freeloaders, things are going to get real ugly--especially when fans start quitting anime by the dozens and Odex goes out of business anyway.
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