Choice quotes by Odex (Stephen Sing and Peter Go)
A character with the online nick “xysing” has been found saying some interesting things in online forums.
“Nope~ Me too busy sueing people~ (o.o)yâ€
“Hahahahah! I double-6-ed so many downloaders~ serve them right! (o.o)yâ€
~posted by xysing in SCORD forum
And thanks to Hardwarezone EDMW’s CSI team, (thread here) It would appear that xysing is Stephen Sing Xin Yang. Which Stephen? That Stephen who is one of the directors to ODEX and the Secretary to Anti-Video Piracy Association of Singapore. Credit to Ferolare, who did up a wonderful entry compiling all the “evidence”.
If this is the attitude of Odex directors, then there’s really nothing that can defend what Odex is doing isn’t it?
Of course, recently, the Newpaper did another article on Odex, filled with many quotes from Mr Peter Go.
He told The New Paper that a US company had been hired to track down the illegal downloaders…. …Mr Go declined to reveal the name of the company Odex hired, saying only that it was also involved in several high-profile copyright infringement cases in the US. He said that the data collected was then used to obtain a court order. The court order required Internet service providers (ISPs) to provide the account information of users whose internet protocol (IP) addresses had been linked to illegal downloading.
Users who admitted to the downloads were made to pay between $3,000 and $5,000 in reimbursement fees to Odex, according to Mr Go.
‘The money they’ve been made to pay is to cover the costs which Odex has incurred.’ Mr Go said besides the usual legal fees, they had to pay the ISPs for identification of users, the US company hired to track illegal downloads, as well as the additional administrative staff.
Said Mr Go: ‘We just haven’t finished matching the data obtained from the other ISPs yet. We are not targeting any ISP in particular.’
He said: ‘There are so many ways people can get their anime fix. ‘And our VCDs and DVDs are already priced about as low as they can go, but people still aren’t buying. ‘It’s very sad.’
This pretty much clarifies a few stuff. Starhub users are not spared. No, Odex did not just pay singnet for finding out who downloaded stuff. They actually went through a court order.
To balance things out a little. Do keep in mind that there are also difficulties that Odex faces in producing your anime dvds/vcds. Firstly, they are only able to release old series (at least 6 months after shown on TV), because of tokyo companies. Fair enough. Sometimes they do weird things to their sub and the anime to get pass singapore’s censorship. Uh ok.
Yeah, it’s sad that nobody wants to buy their products. Well.. I think the quality of their products are damn sad too. Blaming poor quality subs on the fact that translations are outsourced? Hello…. that’s just an excuse. Shouldn’t they do their own quality checks. Maybe they can try targeting the fans who wouldn’t mind paying a premium for good quality as well as extras?
He said: ‘We would like to avoid getting to the point where we have to raid the homes of those who download illegally. But if this continues, we may soon have to.’
Yup. Way to go. Definitely the most reasonable thing to do. YEAH RIGHT -_-”
Riuva and Bjorn both have entries with regards to the newpaper article.
I don’t know whether it’s true if Odex is being pressured by Tokyo TV to go after illegal downloads. But their attitude towards it just plain suck. Now everybody is just living in a climate of fear. This is crap. Really. Yes i know, warnings were given, but few had heard about it. And the way things go now, there’s this impression that nobody is being given a warning chance.
Loving anime in Singapore is a miserable thing to do now
Update: Ferolare has another entry, complete with pictures for easy reading
Impz on THAT has a good article on why whatever rants the community does, will not hurt Odex. In fact, immature rants only make the community look back. While I feel for those who are being served letters by Odex, I totally agree with him, which is why I keep trying to correct misconceptions about what Odex is doing.
In this entry, I’m basically upset about the attitude of Mr Stephen towards the whole issue.
Update 2: News reports that starhub received court order regarding this issue of illegal anime download.
Anime distributor Odex Pt. Ltd. said StarHub, a telecommunications, Internet and cable company, was ordered to reveal about 1,000 of its subscribers accused of downloading anime illegally.
a suit against a third Internet service provider, Pacific Internet, for the right to track down another 1,000 customers suspected of the same offense, Sing said.
11. How are the letter targets chosen?
Randomly. It does not depend on the volume of download at all. This is because Odex wants us to realise that ALL forms of downloading is bad and ALL should be stopped, so even if you’re just downloading one a week, you’re still at risk. But if you are a chronic downloader, it just means your chances of winning any case are slim obviously.
With the legal lawsuits thrown left and right, the anime fandom community and spirit is slowly dying.
What I can predict is that, if they resort to such drastic actions, people are going to stay away from going into anime fandom, because of the fear of being sued. Being that the case, anime becomes the latest victim of “Singapore fad crisis,” after the bubble tea “burst” and the Tamagotchi craze.
/2-cents
hmmm another round of media fiasco, looks like their reputation is going down the drain.
How childish of the HWZ people. Now the truly sad thing is most of them are fellow adults as well. Is it no wonder people look down on anime fans?
We shall see how many Odex can take actions against. They may sue 10, 20, 50, 100. But there’s more than 200,000 of us all over the world !! Its just plain bull$hit, you don’t know how to run your company, then start learning how to instead of taking these lame & easy way out to cut your losses !!
In short, if you wish to declare WAR with us, you will be on the losing end. There’s more than 1 way of getting around things in the cyberworld ODEX !!
Its so upsetting, Its clearly their anime come in late which is such a huge factor, plus the disgusting quality control.. omg, even fansubbs can sometimes do better.
Its jsut a matter of time before the online world finds a way to get around their stupidity
I agree with tjhan.
They are even have this boycotting campagin thread and are currently gathering funds to counter sue back odex.
And now this, desprately gathering information just to expose odex.
But have they ever ask themselves this?
How will this help the anime community?
It wont.
The best we can do now is to just STFU and see what odex does next.
Hopefully they would look more into what the anime fans are trying to appeal.
And try to condone with our what we want gradually.
Its not a matter of being a coward or anything.
Its the matter of whats the optimal thing to do now.
Even if someone really manage to counter sue odex back and win the case. (very unlikely)
It proves nothing except that there are loopholes in how Odex is handling this matter.
Yes, glory and hounour might shine on whoever that wins the case. And people from HWZ will look upon him as a hero.
But all in all. It will not help the community. Downloading will afterall still be illegal.
The government might even start to get paranoid about this online piracy case. And tighten up on online piracy laws.
I seriously dont think they will start to think
“oh how sad, a 9year old boy has been sued. Lets make the copyright law more lenient.”
Shouting i hate odex and acting like a retard does not help.
Everyone one please do not follow the sheeps in HWZ.
And for all those that are wondering if what they claim as “legal fees” are real.
They are, i believe.
They have to
1) BayTSP (which, if you check around, is very well known for charging pretty high rates. Factor in the USD->SGD conversion)
2) Law firm. I still won’t name it, but they deal with Japan. So they would charge Japanese rates too. There’s a reason why japanese companies pay well – they spend very well too.
3) Court orders.
4) ISP charges. The ISPs are profiteering from this. They are charging pretty high amounts to release the data, since this is their chance to earn.
5) Odex having to hire extra manpower to go through the documentation, match, and then send them out.
And for god sake.
Those people in HWZ complain and bark whole day about their lousy quality.
And blame it entirely on their lousy quality leading them not to buy their products.
Yep it may be true to some of the individuals there.
But i have to say at least 80% of the others are just bandwagoning.
I dare say that most of them will NOT buy odex’s anime products even if they are of high quality.
They just want to enjoy their damm anime without buying spending any money.
In short they are freeloaders.
And even if they do buy, they will not buy for all series that they are downloading now.
Mayb just some of the more famous ones. Bleach, naruto, d gray man ect …
Boycott campaign in this case makes me laugh. What’s there to boycott when nobody buys their stuff in the first place.
Personally think there’s no point to counter suing as well, since you obviously did something wrong in the first place.
I just feel for those who come from really difficult financial situations, who end up facing this fine now. *sigh*
Very wrong attitudes coming from both the community as well as from odex.
Hmms curious. I remember hearing somewhere that if they were to charge us for DLing unlisenced anime it won’t be a case at all. Thats the reason why animesuki removes all the lisenced anime torrents from their website. Is this true?
@ Question: Not true. Besides, I believe you’re looking at the list of licensed anime in the US. AVPAS has an incredible long list of licensed anime in Singapore. If Odex did not have a case, they wouldn’t have been able to get the court order in the first place.
“Very wrong attitudes coming from both the community as well as from odex.” By tedfox
Quoted for truth.
From how people are commenting and posting in certain forums.
They are pushing all the blame to Odex. Blame on their qualites, on their slow release and even on their moral values.
Why wont these people just wont stop and think.
“Hey, i was the one that downloaded the anime, i think its partly my fault as well.”
*Sigh*
By the way i was one of the victims as well.
And I actually posted in HWZ that it was partly my fault.
And we should not push all blames on Odex.
But guess what? I got flammed. Yay~~
l-lawliet no point posting there, thats where most of the really pissed of ‘fans’ are and they’re to enraged to accept pro-ODEX opinions. In fact, doing so may get you ‘killed’. -.-;;
PS: I just noticed your nick is |-| and not a H, sorry if I messed up your nick before on other blogs. ^.^
Anyway:
‘And our VCDs and DVDs are already priced about as low as they can go, but people still aren’t buying.’
‘It’s very sad.’ – Peter Go
It should seriously be rephrased as:
‘And our VCDs and DVDs that are of questionable quality, heavily censored by our friends at BOFC and filled with cheap outsourced subbing are already priced about as low as they can go, but people still aren’t buying.’
‘I wonder WHY? It’s very sad. NOT’ – Peter Go
German P2P lawsuits hit roadblock
http://www.p2p-blog.com/item-340.html
Canadian Rock Stars Speak Out Against P2P Lawsuits, DRM
http://canadian-pundit.blogspot.com/2006/04/canadian-rock-stars-speak-out-against.html
Similar stuff are happening around the world but Singapore is in the news (http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/14/business/AS-TEC-Singapore-Illegal-Downloads.php) for being the first to clamp down on anime. Market so small, Japanese rights owners don’t even bother to release authentic stuff quickly here (if they release it here at all), yet bother to threaten this tiny little market with “legal letters” through their distributor! We are being laughed at, & it’s not tough to see why.
Our tiny island is easy to crow into submission as the anime community is so small, most are students (no real $$ power, fearful parents will just pay for them), and the laws (amended for the USSFTA) are thin on privacy protections & individual rights. Not to mention our people are known for being submissive & compliant, taking in everything the “authorities” say with nods of reverence.
Carrying on bickering, don’t band togther, & see if anyone hears you.
More fun from the US:
“P2P Lawsuits”and “P2P Extortion,” the 2007 yin and yang of the file-sharing debate
http://www.zeropaid.com/news/8480/“P2P Lawsuits”and “P2P Extortion,” the 2007 yin and yang of the file-sharing debate
Believe me, if someone actually refuses to pay the ‘fine’ and goes to court with a good lawyer, you will see truckloads of those ‘bickering’ right now heading for the courts the moment they find out the date of the lawsuit.
I just stopped a download cos I found out it was liscensed by Odex… is there any way to track that we downloaded the file 100% ??? cos we can stop the download anytime….
Yes. You need a way to change your ip via proxying then you need to encrypt the downloads and also block the ips of tracking companies in canada/US that ODEX uses. Just encypting won’t protect you. Also, ODEX takes records from years back, even before their warnings, so if you get caught its just bad luck.
Recently heard Stephen Sing has made a police report because he has recieved death threats.
I noticed that “Naruto” is not in the authorized list of AVPAS. Do you know why? Because “Naruto” is sold by Blue Max, which proves that AVPAS is actually none other than ODEX themselves! Not to mention that Blue Max’ quality is way more superior than ODEX’!
Stephen’s recent remarks int he paper about what he said on forums was sue tp “a particularly bad experience with one downlaoder with a bad attitude.”
ONE.
Okkkkaaaaayy.
Now noticed in his very insesnsitive and arrogant remarks that he mentioned sueing PEOPLE and he double 6ed so MANY downlaoders?
Very smart Mr Sing. You not only shot yourself in the leg, the bullet even bounced back and shot you in your crotch.
Stupidity has a limit, this is beyond stupid. Yeesh. I give up on him, he previously added a tanker’s worth of crude oil to the fire, now he just added the tanker too with his weak defence for his lame remarks. Genius.
I think the main beef most people have with what ODEX is doing is:
1) Never heard of ODEX until they started sending out their demands for $$.
2) Never heard of anime until they discovered it through friends or by stumbling on it online, through no effort of any local marketing.
3) Why, instead of reaching for the fans and trying to win them over, they’re reaching for the fans and trying to wring their necks.
4) Trying to turn this into a money making opportunity by not giving notice and by intentionally waiting for a long period to pass before going after the downloaders, thereby maximizing profits. (why stop them after they’ve downloaded 1 episode when we can catch them for the whole series)
Terrorizing Singapore one household at a time – ODEX
well, i find his remarks rather distasteful and unbecoming of an adult, much less a company director that has the license to distribute animes. as someone who has a legal right to bring us dlers to court for dling licensed animes, fine. but what i find is that he has no decent right to gloat like what he did. i certainly agree with Silverwolf. if he had the balls to make those comments, have the balls to defend them. ODEX themselves do a poor job of the animes they license, not only from the dubs and subtitling, but also the censorship.( i once bought a copy of KGNE from them, and was shocked to find it a poorly done job.) since then, i’ve been running a business dealing in searching for anime/game collectibles for clients, and i’ve always told them this: ” ODEX might be cheaper, but what you get from them is not what u pay for.” even animes that they license, such as love hina, can be bought in DVD format(completely original, with perfect subtitling/decent dubbing) for roughly 65% of what they charge for the 2 box set.
I’m interested to see how many downloaders will he manage to catch in singapore for suing. i;d say, he can catch 100,200. wait till he catches 4,000 to 5,000. the paperwork will probably be so much, he’ll need to hire a few law firms to carry out each and every suit, and get a little more money back after the whole fiasco is done.
Well hatori, according to 14th August Straits Times, Starhub will release more than 1000 names to Odex. 1000 names ..because they already have the ISP of these offenders….*cough* us *cough*.
I think it will be months before those on the Hit List gets the dreaded letter. So for the time being, I would suggest that everyone lie low.
I’ve a question though… they just got 1,000 numbers from Starhub, and if they fine each of these a minimum a $3000 they’ll make $3,000,000.
From my limited knowledge I’m *quite* sure you can’t spend more than $200,000 to $300,000 for ALL the legal BS… so does it mean ODEX is making a PROFIT from all of this? Isn’t profiteering like that kinda illegal??
As far as I remembered, they claimed that they sustained a loss of 60-70% in total revenue due to illegal downloads?? So it this $3mil covers their 60-70% plus the legal fees and costs for catching us then its quite legitimate to claim.
But of course, someone must have the balls to stand up to them and make them come clean with their accounts if we suspect them of profiteering…
At least we have a questionable point to raise when we face them.
Have anyone even ask the so called director of ODEX this question:
‘Have you purchased any pirated DVD before?’
Not even a single copy of pirated DVD of any kind in his home? That would be too ANGEL !!!
well, if that is the case, wait for the letter if we downloaded anything licensed by them. (hopefully not) to my knowledge i don;t remember downloading anything that has had any relation to them.
regarding the 60-70% loss in revenue. hasn;t it ever occured to them that it isn;t JUST the downloaders? i mean, we all know the video quality is bad and the subtitles are poorly done. with a product like that, do you think us singaporeans will jus eat it up and not find alternatives for very long? just because you’re the main distributor, doesn;t mean that every anime fan has to buy your products. i lined up my stuff( direct-from-japan, ODEX, HK parallel imports and the “ahem” stuff) and compared them. guess which one is bottoms out? like what a fellow reader on Impz blog said:
Qouted from A Chicken Passeth:
“You might say that improving a product won’t stop piracy – this is true, because this ISN’T THE GOAL. THE GOAL IS TO INCREASE SALES WITHOUT ALIENATING YOUR FANBASE, BY PROVIDING A PRODUCT EVEN PIRATES WOULD WANT TO BUY. Once the fans stand behind your stuff, most of the marketing is already done for you, and you don’t really need marketing outside of a website.Antipirates forget the unwritten otaku law that even pirates observe: it’s better to own the originals than stuff on backup media. THIS is what drives EVERY media industry, and is especially what drives the industry in Japan!
Disclosure: I’ve personally seen Mr Ho’s and Mr Sim’s bad sides a few years back (and how I got to see this, unfortunately, must remain secret). They see themselves as victims and martyrs of the local industry – and they actually made an exclamation, to an entire meeting room, that they do not care for a fanbase that doesn’t think much of their products. I’m sorry, but after that episode, I can’t say I have any sympathy for Odex and its policies at all. ”
Couldn;t agree more.
hatori, look at it this way, Odex has been screwing the community ever since they went into animation more then 6 years ago. Their subbing has always been low quality, outsourced and cheap. They take chinese subs and retranslate from that instead of direct from japanese, worse, thanks to their buddies at BOFC, it comes censored and mutilated by the time it hits store sheleves.
Its take a TOTAL IDIOT to buy Singapore released Anime. You not only get a hack job, its also 99% censored.
Blue Max is doing a fine job with their releases though, picking series that will not get BOFC’s buttsecksing scissors. Their recent release of Hanaukyo Maids on DVD is pretty good and almost to R1 standards. The box is simple but nice and clear and its around only 50-60 bucks for the full series.
Unfortunately, most series will never come to Singapore because of its content and as i said, because of BOFC. ODEX is only half to blame for the messed up state of our community right now, but yeah, having 1 arrogant and insensitive jerk and an ignorant loser leading the company will shift most of the hate to them.
Trust me, once ODEX is out of the picture and Stephen gets gangbanged by ah beng anime thugs, the next object of hatred will be BOFC. This will never end.
Its one problem after another for the anime community here in Singapore.
Despite SS distasteful remarks, I would still say that downloading anime is wrong in the first place, so all the mopping and complaining is just in vain. Lets just hope the letters sending will stop so less people fall into 3k debts.
Wrong yes.
I’m not trying to justify one’s actions for downloading.
But since ODEX sits on its fat ass on licenses and takes forever to get them out and in decent sellable quality, and since BOFC mutilates and bans others, what else would you expect an internet savvy fan to get the Anime he/she wants to watch?
Even buying R1 and R2s has its headaches, the moment your parcel falls into BOFC’s hands, good f***ing luck seeing it intact again. DHL is not recommended if you want your legit bought stuff to come in in one piece. EMS is expensive, but my R2′s from CDJapan has always come in untouched, so i’d recommend it.
Its the process of elimination. prevent a person from getting something easily legally, naturally they’d resort to ‘underhand’ means.
Tell them to give up Anime then? Be my guest. Its like telling Bush to stop buttsecksing Iraq or Osama to stop being a fanatical cuckoo.
See, why don’t the hardline local anime fans pool some money and open up a new company to rival ODEX. That way all this nonsense would be avoided and we’d get much better products.
hi
so wait, so absolutely no dling? even stuff showing right now in japan? like lucky star, etc.?
they are allowed to sue for ppl dling stuff not on their list?
Is that legal?
anyone knows exactly what kind of trackers they use? izzit mainly tracking torrent downloads, does that mean ppl who download from http or ftp are safe?
# Silverwolf X Says:
August 15th, 2007 at 2:53 am
Believe me, if someone actually refuses to pay the ‘fine’ and goes to court with a good lawyer, you will see truckloads of those ‘bickering’ right now heading for the courts the moment they find out the date of the lawsuit.
—
Well, if u have to use the word “actually,” it really says a lot already. But couldn’t agree more with your other posts. To some of those sitting on their self-built mighty moral high chair, there are local anime fans out there feeling indignant about this whole needless controversy despite not having downloaded anything and people who are putting Odex down may not necessarily be immature “thieves.” No anime lover in Singapore should criticise another fan who is trying to do something when something can be done.
how about we send letters to the Straits Times and Today regarding this issue, i’m sure that we can both put a end to the letter nonsense and keep Odex at a distance. bad publicity is one thing, but having it become a reality of the anime community banding together against a company who seems to think that because it holds the licenses to distribute in the ASEAN reigon, gives it the right to sell poor quality goods, i think it’s time we came up with our own countermeasure and put them out of business, for good.
Yes, there are people who have written in to both ST & TNP, hatori. It’s really commendable. But then you must understand that all media in Singapore practise serious self-censorship. Nonetheless, TNP has published a couple of the more measured letters and they had a feature on page 2 yesterday that suggested something quite constructive. I really wish IPOS & the Singapore government would listen & realise that what they are going down the wrong path. Odex would not would not be able to do what they are doing without a court order and legal backing. Will our “consultative” govt hear us?
Anyway, anyone knows of any meetings of anime fans or any group trying to do something constructive?
I’m very sure all the various newspapers have tons of letters already.
The last thing you should be doing is to wonder “is such and such a method for downloading safe”. It’s all freaking illegal.
Personally I think only those who are downloading by public torrents those anime that are listed are being sent letters. But unless you are the directors of Odex, you cannot say for sure.
Just remember that downloading/streaming is all illegal. If you think Odex’s product are lousy, you can always buy those R1/2/3 dvds. There are always alternatives.
On what SW said, do let me know if anybody comes across anything constructive. I’ll definitely highlight it.
One e.g. is http://forums.hardwarezone.com/showthread.php?t=1696700
But, in that thread, which i haven’t had the time to read finish all, the followup comments arn’t too promising. A pity
Unfortunately, you have to pay a serious premium to get them shipped in from Japan. I do that but then I earn my own keep – many students can hardly afford to do this regularly. Anime is just not a cheap hobby if u are serious about it. The problem is that the whole system – internet availability, faster ISP packages, slow releases, poor-quality licensed products, expensive imported goods, better alternatives – has created this “monster” that the authorities now want to crush and they are doing it the only way they think works best in Singapore. Music is probably too pervasive to clamp down but anime…. Well, it’s hard to be an anime fan in Singapore & now it’s even harder. I think anyone who tries to stand up & be heard should do their best when the media still deem it newsworthy. And it should be commended, not put down.
Ted it is true there is THAT solution, but our BOFC will screw us over if we don’t know how to ‘smuggle’ those in.
That is why most resort to downloading even if they had the money to buy legally. On one end, ODEX is screwing us over, the other end, BOFC is cutting our stuff to ribbons.
The extra time, money and heartache isn’t worth it to an average Anime fan or freeloader.
I find it very ironic that if we obtain something illegally we get screwed, if we do something legally we ALSO get screwed. So in the minds of many: “WTF!?”
Anime fans want to watch their Anime fast, in their entirety and with accuracy. WE’RE NOT GETTING THAT.
The future of Anime here in Singapore is bleak, no mater the outcome.
We can’t do anything, since most of us here all “Talk cock, sing song.”
http://forums.hardwarezone.com/showthread.php?t=1696700
A very good post, indeed.
Writing to the media may have limited effect and going to ODEX hoping to “educate” them is practically useless but what about writing to the people elected to represent us? Sigh, does everyone think there’s nothing that can be done??
Sorry for double post, needed time to find this and couldn’t edit it in on last post:
Proof we are getting double screwed both ways:
http://originallyferolare.wordpress.com/2007/08/09/under-the-microscope-again-uh-oh/#comment-33
Tjose of you who bought their Shana release. I feel so sorry for you. I feel your pain.
I have stacks of their old releases I bout 6 years ago as a sec 4 brainless loser on 48k dialup. Looking back, I should have hanged myself. With the money I spent on their crap, I could have bought a PS3, 360 and Wii with 2 games each NOW!!! -.-;;
Sorry, once more, further review:
http://originallyferolare.wordpress.com/2007/07/31/under-the-microscope-ç¼çœ¼ã®ã‚·ãƒ£ãƒŠ-r3-dvd/#more-27
Ok, and Peter Go wonders why his company’s crap doesn’t sell. Try showing this to your American fans and ask their opinion. I did. He fell off his chair laughing at our misery. yay. >.>
Check out the end of Page 4 of the above hardwarezone.com forum thread… there’s a group that’s planning to meet this weekend, I think. They are hoping to come together to find out more about legal rights, Odex’s methods, etc. Don’t know of any other group coordinating something like this but if you’ve got the letter or care enough about local anime, it may be worth checking out.
They should just show CASE ODEX’s Shanna dvds. I can’t believe I’d have to pay to buy eye bleeding subtitles and censorship.
People. If you really hate whats going here. Work hard, save up, migrate to the states where R1s are all over, or Japan, whatever suits your fancy.
Those who want to stay well, Anime here will spiral downhill into oblivion and we’ll be forever treated as criminals. Yay.
Welcome to Hell fellow Otakus.
Dear All,
Someone has couragously spearheaded a movement. Of course there is much under ground work at the moment because of possible sabotage. Currently they are seeking people who are willing to contribute their expertise, such as IT or legal issues and etc and people who have actually received the letter.
I have a question: Did Odex buy the right to translate animes ONLY or did they buy the right over the animes?
The right to over the Anime and its related merchandise.
Anyway forgot something folks:
Also people, I like to point an interesting fact out to all of you. Bringing in R1 and R2 DVDs is actually not as legal as you think.
Most of us bring in from shipping methods like EMS that don’t go through MDA/BOFC. By right though, all film/aural media that is imported or locally produced has to go through them and get their Seal of Approval (aka Ugly Sticker of Death). Film media with some scenes deem inappropriate to them will be edited, scratched or cut off before the product is sent to you. If it contains material deemed inapprpriate as a whole, they’ll just confiscate your VHS/VCD/BD/HDDVD/CD/DVD and let you ROT IN HELL.
In the past I had some ADV Anime VHS tapes confiscated this way and I never got a refund. Since then I’ve wisened up and have resorted to ’smuggling’ through methods that would not go through MDA/BOFC.
Yay. I have to behave and do things like a CRIMINAL to get stuff LEGALLY! DO YOU PEOPLE SEE THE IRONY IN THAT OR ARE YOU ALL COMPLACENTLY BRAINWASHED BLIND!?
Anime in Singapore is doomed unless Odex bucks up, says its gonna stand on our side and refuse to give in to MDA/BOFC’s panel of geriatic’s decisions and release all good Anime with M18 ratings with non-eye bleeding subtitles and 100% effort involved subbing work.
……
HA.
I’d have struck TOTO by then and have left this control hell of a country if chances of that happening came true.
Peace all.
Analysing the business strategy of Od3x, it seems like they are planning an exit altogether.
Fact is, they have lost all support from the anime community here. Even the general populace will avoid them too. They won’t be expecting any sales anytime soon (except cheap clearance sale).
So… start sending letters threatening to sue. Make everyone pay. Since the amount you will pay is grossly outweigh the price of their products, the P/L will look pretty good.
Once their ‘profit’ goes up astronomically (potentially in millions!), then exit. Sell the distribution rights to someone else. Fold up, take the cash and run… as rich buggers. Likely go into another non-anime related business.
Downloaders who dun pay are theives. Flat and simple.
Stealing is a a crime. Flat and simple.
You wanna steal, you do the time when you get caught. If you are too scared to admit you are stealing then don’t steal in the first place. Buy what you want.
If I were in charge, I would ask for all theives hands to be chopped off. (Yes! Even the 9 year old!) No one should deny another one their livlihood.
So you’re saying stealing from a thief is justified? Steven Sing should get his hands chopped off then.
In todays papers he ‘admitted’ that his company had been stealing fansubs to use in their releases and is PUSHING THE BLAME on to his interns and his ‘outsourced’ translators.
Fansubbers ‘steal’ from media recorded by the Japanese. If the Japanese that recorded the show and kept for their own use, fine, but they ‘spread the love’ so to speak. Fansubbers then, with their own time and effort at their own expense, subtitle the recording and release them to their community in their prefered language. Odex then ‘steals’ their work and claims it as their own.
Very convincing, stealing from theives is OKAY!
BKeng, you mindset alone puts you on the same level as freeloaders, cheapskates and braindead flamers who flame as if their lives depend on it. In fact, your one track attitude and inability to think on the bigger scale how things are getting effcted right now shows you are a danger to society and you should get your head examined. You are spouting the same crap like every other troller or mindless side taker need to get common sense and rationality knocked into you.
Unless you dropped out of school. Then I can’t blame you for being a one tracked idiot who only knows how to mindlessly add oil to flames.
Oh, and you are a danger to children and your quick suggestion of archiac cruelty suggest you are heartless jerk who likes power. Peace be to you. Loser.
I feel like using vulgar language on you but that will only put me in the same level as you. Get out of here. You won’t even let a 9 yr old off, so how does that actually speak of yourself? Your words have spoken of how “well descipline” you are. Talking to you is just a waste of time.