Ware ware wa
Celestial Being.
Oops, NG. Wrong start.
We are Xedo Defense.
I am one of the Odex'ed victims, whose names had been wrongfully
indicted for copyright infringement.
Over the past month, we saw that the Judge ruled that Odex was
not the correct party to initiate lawsuits. It is, therefore, my
imperative to start out a roll-call for all those who have been
served the letter from Odex, regardless of whether they had or had
not paid any settlement fees. Supporters of the Anti-Odex movement
are also appreciated.
I start out this thread, in the hopes of gathering all Odex'ed
victims, to come out from their homes and contest in a legal suit
against Odex. The odds are against Odex, and with your support, we
can right the wrong, and prove ourselves that we are not to be
trampled upon like cockroaches.
The reason I posted this thread is because I believed the time
is right to act and pursue a recourse, to act against the actions
Odex has pursued against what is potentially their customers.
This is not a call to support piracy: this is a call to make
right what Odex has wronged. Odex has wronged us in many ways,
labelling us as pirates and other negative connotations, all in the
name of "defending the interests of copyright owners."
Without them, we still are able to enjoy anime, not through
television, but by the Internet. The Internet has allowed us to be
exposed in a myriad and variety of shows that would've otherwise
been unknown in Singapore.
Before Bleach made its way to cable, we already enjoyed its
goodness.
Before Naruto became famous, we were light years ahead.
Before all other anime shows become the third rated VCDs on the
shelf, we had already knew them by heart.
At the heart of our fandom, is the freedom of information, and
with it, the right to watch, not watch, like, and dislike, the
shows that deserves our attention, and credit the people behind the
shows.
What Odex had done is to disturb the cordial relationship
between us fans and the creators of the shows. Without properly
researching their legal rights, they made use of fear, uncertainty,
and doubt (F.U.D.) over us, to make us feel "guilty" of our
actions. To scare us about the struggling anime industry, citing
figures from various sources to expound their claims of justifying
the clampdown.
What they do is similar to RIAA, the infamous entity that has
sued dead people and grandmothers for hefty somes of money. All
over claims that are shaky in its foundation.
The worst sin they committed, is to sue a nine-year-old girl,
forcing her parents to comply a Letter of Undertaking, a letter
full of legalese that will confound an average Singaporean.
Another victim was wrongfully accused of infringement. The
irony, was that at the time Odex stated he was doing so, he was
physically out of Singapore. He has an alibi to accrue his
credibility.
The company Odex used to target Singaporeans, BayTSP, is also of
question. Another company of similar operations, MediaDefender, has
been exposed and made famous online to use privacy-invasive tactics
to interfere with otherwise legitimate Internet traffic. There are
also statements from clients of BayTSP, admitting that their
tactics are not always 100% effective. This has been examplified by
their "mistakes" of sending cease & desist letters to people in
France, the US and Japan.
We regret that Odex's website has been hacked into, and we
deplore such acts. However, this shows how they backtrack on their
promise of a video-on-demand service back in Oct 2007. They had not
sufficiently secure their servers, and the long absence of Odex's
website shows that they never intended to provide a service to us
customers.
I think by saying all these, it's my objective to raise the
collective voice of everyone affected by this and all those who
felt that Odex has done a great wrong and injustice, to effectively
set the record straight, and applaud businesses that are rooted in
sound business realities. The money that has been used to pay the
"settlement fees" are still left unanswered. Where are the audit
reports, the claims of "sending the money over to charities?" We
have not heard from them since Judge Woo's last ruling.
If by now, you still think that Odex is right, I will like to
say that, they had been proven wrong time and again. The titles
whom they choose to import has nothing to do with what the fans
want, but by arbitrary choices. Their so-called "errors in
translation" were done in the purpoted idea of censoring for
conforming to Board of Film Censors' (BFC) standards, something
which the BFC has publicly denounced. They have not made the
transition to DVDs, even though the target audiences are
increasingly clamour for it. Anecdotal accounts reflect their blase
attitudes of unprofessionalism: they used fan-made subtitles and
pass them off as their own. Will one actually tolerate a company
that had committed all these foul practices and yet unrepentant of
their wrong-doings to continue? The choice is now in your hand, to
take up action against them or to lend your support to them, or be
the silent accomplices of all the horrendous things inflicted by
Odex.
Now it's the time to act. I have relayed this thread over to
SGCafe, sgForums, HWZ Forums and VR-Zone Forums, to spread the
message of a swift action. The time to hesitate is through, there's
no time to wallow in the mire. Act now, and we show the world that
Singapore otaku aren't to be trampled upon like beasts.
If you wish to join in this call for action, you may contact
FND, member of the Xedo Defense, via email at aranril AT gmail DOT
com, through http://theodexed.wordpress.com, or through the user
that posted this call.
Those who have been Odex'ed, step out. Supporters, lend me your
ears. To the public, we are serious.
