Singapore cracks down on anime piracy

last SG · 2007-06-01T23:05:39+00:00

Tis strange to clamp down so hard on the downloaders when the source of most unofficial fansubs are derived from capture of free-to-air broadcasts. It's a...

Purplehaze623 SG

so... only anime titles under TV-Tokyo will be involved? or issit the alliance of anime producing tv stations in japan u said before?

caleb_chiang SG

Rolling Eyes

The best way is to destory internet and all technological items so ppl would not be able to copy or download... Laughing

Purplehaze623 SG

ok, now it has gone so big that the whole world knows about it

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/bbs/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=41469

stellazio SG

let the whole world laugh at us, that is why our media is ranked 154th in the world right? Laughing

av98m SG

From their point of view it makes perfect sense what. Singapore has no consumer protection, no privacy laws, nothing. Our courts are also not independent. Laughing

CoolMyth SG

It is very sad. - Peter Go, ODEX Pte Ltd.

allentyb SG

HEADLINES HEADLINES

When local anime distributor, Odex began to crack down on rose almost as one to decry the action, never mind the important fact, that Odex had the law on its side.

Now the online row has taken a nasty turn as the more unsavoury elements of the Wild Wild Web take potshots (which is HWZ) at Odex company director, STEPHEN SING.

What is his crime?

They felt that he had gloated over his company's success in taking illegal downloaders to task.

Mr SING, soon found himself branded as the ''most hated man in Singapore's anime community'', as labelled by one blogger. (Just one. it appears to me, new paper has no idea, how many people hated Odex).

Unhappy Net citizens have posted his personal information (HWZ CSI) and photographs on a forum thread and on various blogs.

When some of them, went on the forums and threatened to beat him up and wanted to set fire to his house,

His comment: ''I'll just leave it to the police,''

''I'd rather not engage the forum members, because they are not going to react very well, to whatever i have to say. (yea, after you made such a remark - Hahahahaha!! I double-6-ed so many downloaders~ serve them right! Nope~ Me too busy sueing (sic) people~)

''Double-6'' is a gaming term which means hitting or striking an opponent.

Mr Sing is one of two directors in Odex. The other is managing director, Peter Go.

In june, Odex started to send out letters to Internet users whose accounts, were linked to illegal downloading activities. The deal is, they were made to sign a letter, in promising not to download any more animes series, and pay between $3000 to $5000, in reimbursement to the company.

Following the crackdown, forum members and other Net Citizens, manage to dug up information on Mr Sing's onlne activities - the forum he frequented, his educational background, and even his Sunday rountine.

One forum member even posted a picture of his wife.

Forum member jeff Koh, 29, an IT professional told The New paper (whose newspaper article which i have to edit because your work really looks a primary school homework, and lack in depth in terms of information and paragraph, oh well) that he felt that Mr Sing's comment on the issue of sueing people, was ''extremely unbecoming behaviour as a company director''.

he said that: ''Mr Sing mocks at the people whom run afoul of the nation's intellectual property law, whether due to ignorance or on purpose, (yaya. you never even produce the copyright proof that you have obtain the license for devil may cry, and you want to claim copyright, an act of double standard)

''He is supposed to be handling out justice (profit margins) and delivering proper education (better translation, and better front setting) to the next generation of young people(i will sue you if you downoad).''

A forum posting, by SeCtor 7, said this at a thread!!: To give out such comments, he is simplu gloating over other (sic) misfortune.... Mat the whole entire Singapore online community and anime lovers unite(count me out, i don't want to get sue) and turn turn the tide against Odex.''

A blogger named as Atalude (another dick sued by Odex), added that the flaming of Mr Sing, was a form of '' divine retribution'' for the way, how Odex has been cracking down on illegal downloaders.

But some of them disapprove of the flaming, One blogger, Impz, wrote this: Having display such childish manner, about downloading, and shouldn't we be more civil in looking at this matter, is not helping the online community in anyway ( sorry i had to edit his whole entire sentence, it just doesn't sound right! his exact words are, Being childish over this downloading and the words spoken is(are) really not (are really not,) putting community in a good light.

''What will people think of us? My bet is that we will be seen as a group of immature little punks that know nothing of the law and simply know how to flame.''( thank god, he is not in this forum, or i will mock at his english)

Mr Sing said that, he was shocked (ya right) that his comment n the forum had sparked off, such a huge reaction. (We hated you, what kind of reception, do you expect, a warm welcome, a civil debate, please oh my, what a noob).

He said: I wrote that comment, almost two months ago, so when my told me, what had been happening in that thread, i couldn't even remember it.'' (HUH what are you talking about, you are denying that you wrote that, blaming it on loss of memory, is that what you are trying to say?)

'TAKEN OUT OF CONTEXT' (Please, the new paper, if you want to do some damage control, brush up on your english, please)

Mr Sing said that, he made that remark in response to his friend's invitation t meet up. Telling his friend, why couldn't he meet up at all, his reply was he is busying, taking people to court.

Mr Sing felt that his comments had been ''taken out of context''. (An fabulous display of what a noob would do, and his broken english can lead to. FLAMING!)

''Some bloggers have been posting irresposibly (we are hiding behind the screen to flame you, hey, is this the first time, Mr sing in a forum) because they think they can say anything, they want because they can do it anonymously,'' (-_-* you started to insult us and you expect us to be civil.......)

This period of time, has been a personal challenge for him, especially when it comes to meet up with some of the downloaders with ''a bad attitude''.

(ahhhhhhhhhhhhh i want a refund of my 80 cents)

''Most of the time,'' Mr Sing said, ''we want to help the downloaders, we want. But occasionallu, we meet those, who refuse to listen to us.(duh we are not your pet, we have a free mind) even though they have broken the law.''

He added that some of the downloaders even used vulgarities on him and tore up his namecards in a show of defiance.

In hindsight, Mr Sing said that he must take some of the blame for his comments, because he gote ''carried away''.

On the flaming, he admitted that he was angry when he saw the postings for the first time on Monday.

''It's caused me , alot of stress for me and my friends, facing so much public hatred,'' he said. (Must be, his wife, whining to him about the posting of her photo in the forum)

''I think it has been a wake-up call and a lesson learnt - that any information that you posted online, however long ago, can come back and haunt you later.'' (Google is our friend, and you just got owned)

Lawyer Lim Seng Siew of Ong Tay and Partners, told The New Paper, that bloggers who post defamatory statements can be sued by the person defamed. It does not matter where the blogger or server is located.

H said: ''In the Odex situation, if the words and the pictures, are crafted (photoshop ftw) in a way that is harmful to that person's reutation, then there is defamation.

''The bloggers can avoid liability only if they can show that their statements are true or justifiable.''

Choice quotes by Odex (Stephen Sing and Peter Go)

http://anime.tedfox.com/2007/others/news/choice-quotes-by-odex-stephen-sing-and-peter-go

The forum link to his comment - http://aseancord.idasia.org/viewtopic.php?t=151

http://atalude.wordpress.com/2007/08/12/how-do-i-gotten-pwnt/

Mr Sing nick: xysing

Bimborock SG

Has anyone notice this ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odex

Odex "Catching" Methodology
As of now, the method that Odex utilizes for IP harvesting is very similar to MediaSentry's (The company behind IP gathering used by the RIAA) technique.

Basically, they monitor file-sharing networks for infringements of the media. The gathering technique has been argued as "unlawful" and shouldnt be used as legal evidence, based on Dr. Johan Pouwelse' opinion, and was proven to be so on Dutch court[[5]].

This is due to the fact that, in order for Odex or any other company to retrieve a list of IP addresses that are sharing a specific file through the BitTorrent Tracker, the company itself must be connected to the Tracker as well, and in order for the company to obtain a positively confirmation that you are downloading or sending through the P2P network, the company itself must be part of the sharing process through either sending to the illegal downloader or recieving the illegal material from the illegal sharer. Which means, the company itself is also breaking the law.

Although Odex or any other firm can argue that they could have just connected to the Tracker to obtain the list of IP address without taking part in the uploading and downloading process through a customized BitTorrent client, it is impossible to prove that the IP in the list are all illegal downloaders or uploaders since Odex did not take part in the uploading or downloading process first hand. Which means, the ISP of the culprit must provide packets sent and received by the cultprit network to recontruct the media in question, which requires a network professional and a file recontruction expert, if the file happens to be destoryed in the "culprit's computer".

Due to the complexity of P2P file sharing system, it is impossible to prove that someone has completed an actual download of a certain file. A simple analogy would be that:

Mary (BitTorrent Tracker) is watching Joe (Uploader 1) and Tom (Uploader 2) passing half of their apples (bits and pieces of the file) from their individual basket (complete file) to Kelly (Downloader).
Mary then announces to everyone who is part of the apple passing (network) that Kelly now has a full basket of apples.
Jim (Odex), hiding in a corner, listening to what Mary is annoucing, suddenly declares that Kelly has stolen his special apple and decided to sue Kelly.
Jim's (Odex) only evidence is an "announcement" made by Mary (Tracker).
Kelly (Downloader) is unable to confirm that the apples she has in the basket are all "special apples" and not normal apples until she tastes them all. In Odex's case, both Kelly and Odex are unable to confirm that the media in question is really a real copyright infrigement media and not a random file with a similar name until they obtain and watch it.
Mary (Tracker), the provider of the grey evidence, is somehow not involved in the court case.
When Odex first sent out the legal letters, the time frame has allowed the illegal downloader to destroy the media in question. Solid evidence could therefore no longer be obtained, unless Odex is able to request the ISP to perform the above mentioned media reconstruction. Some argue that Odex should have just gone through the law enforcement channel and perform a house raid, but the problem lies in the fact that their so-called "evidence" is insufficient "evidence of infringement" in order for them to obtain a search warrant.

It had been revealed that ODEX have acquired court orders in order to obtain the private information of the users of the respective ISPs[3], basically forcing them to turn over the details of users who have been on the Internet, with the respective IP addresses during that certain time period. However, it is assumed that the ISP is not involved in the tracking process of the users download.

Not sure why the court allow and order the release of personal informations. Clearly we becoming the next NSA. Worst, our IC number can be freely use (like those in Korea-If you know what I mean) for other means (profiteering).

We need better way and place to safeguard our privacy. SG clearly not the place any longer

allentyb SG

Rolling Eyes

LET ME EMPHASIS THIS, EVEN THEY ARE CONNECTED TO THE TRACKER, ALL OF OUR IP ADDRESS ARE BEHIND A STARHUB OR SINGTEL SERVER!!!!!!

THE IP ADDRESS REFLECTED ON THE TRACKER, WILL ONLY BE SINGTEL OR STARHUB OR PACNET SERVER

UNLESS YOU ARE CONNECTED TO IRC TO LEECH FILE, THEN YOUR IP ADDRESS WILL BE EXPOSE!!!

jay_rocks SG

sian man… this Odex is really getting too far. fining 3.5k per person, thousand over letters being sent meant that they are earning more than 3mil.

ndmmxiaomayi SG

If that bloody company really uses packet sniffing, I will make sure that their server go down or use up so much bandwidth such that they are going to pay for it.

I mean what I say.

CoolMyth SG

Careful, mayi. We dun want to see anything happening to you... Wink

the Bear SG

hey people... don't let your anger get the better of you..

just boycott the guy's company...

let him go bankrupt Wink

now.. isn't that a great way to take revenge? Laughing

and it's LEGAL!!

duotiga83 SG

"boy-cord" ? Laughing

ndmmxiaomayi SG

Use up his bandwidth to force ISP to allocate more bandwidth is a good idea to pay. Mind you, bandwidth costs a lot and they count in MB. He will go "OMG" when the bill comes. Laughing

But of course, I will find better ways to utilize that bandwidth of his. Nothing illegal definitely, I will screw myself if I do that.

duotiga83 SG

by simplest way of hotlinking? Laughing

ndmmxiaomayi SG

Yes. Or maybe link images to leech.

If there's an even better idea, upload some images to the server and start posting elsewhere to leech. Laughing

Sagara SG

damn it.. seems like they have started against the starhub and pacnet users.

Oh well, at least some notifications...

hiphop2009 SG

wow relax.

dun go missing from sgforums....

waliao SG

This Odex nonsense is getting out of hand. Rumor has it they wanted to sue a primary skool kid. Truth is they know Singaporeans too kiasee sometimes so they rather settle out of court than have a court case. N Singaporeans r rich n can afford to pay. Not like i racist or anything but i dun think they will wanna sue a banglah.

The boss of e company said his comments were taken out of context but with all e sueing going on...he himself should know e internet is a platform whereby u have to be responsible for wat u say n not anyhow shoot cos u had a bad day at e office. but e most important thing is he is e BOSS of e company.... says so much about company image.

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