Originally posted by Gordonator:
[b]Getting anime illegally online?
Beware
Japanese animated cartoons distributor sending
letters to culprits warning of legal action
By Chua Hian Hou, June 1, 2007
PRICES of anime DVDs here are the world's lowest, but fans of these
Japanese animated cartoons prefer to get them online - for
free.
Now they may land in the soup because a crackdown has been
launched, and they are the targets for downloading these
English-subtitled cartoons through file-sharing networks.
Local anime distributor Odex, which brings in the DVDs from Japan,
has sent out letters to culprits it has identified as having
downloaded these 'fansubs' using the Internet and peer-to-peer
systems like BitTorrent.
'Fansubs' are the works subtitled by bilingual fans of anime as a
service to the community of non-Japanese-speaking anime fans.
Odex spokesman Stephen Sing would not say how many legal letters
have been issued.
A copy of one such letter obtained by The Straits Times announced
that Odex would take legal action against the alleged downloader
unless he settled the issue. Odex did not say what constituted a
settlement.
The letter to this particular alleged downloader - a SingNet
subscriber - came attached with a three-page listing of alleged
downloads.
Mr Sing said that Odex, together with the Anti Video Piracy
Association of Singapore, had no choice but to take legal action,
because 'pirates' here download more anime files than any other
country except the United States, which was 'ridiculous,
considering our population'.
Anime fansubs, around since the 1980s, used to come in video
cassettes, but the Internet and BitTorrent have made it cheap and
easy to get hold of the cartoons.
An anime fan here, who declined to be named, said the community was
downloading fansubs because original anime works were of poor
quality and overpriced.
Mr Sing's counter: 'Perception problem.'
Focus groups, he said, have been unable to differentiate fansubs
from its DVDs when played back on a 42-inch TV set.
Mr Sing added that on a per-DVD basis, prices here were the world's
lowest, and that even when Odex bundled three DVDs for a $9.90
trial offer, fans did not bite.
In the US, the price of a two-DVD set costs between US$15 and
US$20, depending on the anime title.
The anime fan was dismissive of the crackdown and said it would not
stop fansub piracy. The community is tech-savvy and will find ways
to continue downloading without getting caught, he said.
Under Singapore's Copyright Act, users found guilty of 'wilful' and
'significant' downloads face fines of up to $20,000 and up to six
months behind bars.
The Act does not specify what constitutes a significant number of
downloads. [/b]
load of crap. focus groups unable to differentiate? which animes
did they watch and which were from them? who were the focus group?
they and their henchmen? no details whatsoever.
cheapest? please don't make me die of luagther.
and sounds like odex is going for all anime rather than the anime
they carry. so wtf is it their business and not just the anti video
piracy nonsense or the government?
btw we never found out how they did the tracking right? no privacy
laws in singapore but perhaps if we knew the extend of intrusion
into privacy things will change 
