Singapore clamps down on illegal anime downloads (Finally)
The last time I blogged about this illegal downloads topic, I actually got news that while it’s true, they were not really starting to execute it yet. But it seems like all that is about to change.
You can see a list of liscensed anime here.
After asking various people that I think would know better, I can’t confirm whether this is actually happening, although my instincts tell me that the government is serious this time. Don’t ask me things like whether Bittorrent / youtube / crunchroll is illegal. I have no idea, and if you’re worried, you shouldn’t try any of them but should buy the licensed VCDs instead. Besides I think it’s hard to quantify whether the actual creators of anime gain or lose out by the use of fansubs.
Don’t bother debating what effects this has on the anime community in Singapore. Whether good or bad, it has been debated to death over and over again. I guess the government believes that it’s vital to uphold Singapore’s reputation as a place that protect intellectual property.
Obviously I have no idea whether this is fact or fiction, but you’re better off stopping downloads.
Anyway, personally for this blog, I haven’t decided what to do with it. I’m considering whether to continue blogging about unlicensed anime titles, (compared to the list mentioned above), and letting my jap friends fill in some blanks as well.
Yup. No idea where I would go from here. But the most sad part to me is that this would definitely mean the death of the current local anime blogging community. (It will probably still exist, just in a modified form)
*update* Odex is updating their website to include translator’s blog, paid anime downloads. That should be interesting.
*another update* Actually, I’m pretty upset with the comments I see in the singapore blogsphere in general with regards to anime downloads. It shows how much we’ve come to think of anime as “free stuff”. I’m quite excited with what Odex and companies are planning to do, why won’t people just give them a chance. Time to do things within a legal framework. Half the time, the reasonings I see behind arguments are just plain excuses.
Tell that to japanese companies, not ODEX. They’re being pricks about their licenses.
EVEN if ODEX wanted to bring in a certain series, MDA/BOFC will chew on it first and spit the remainder back to ODEX to release to us.
So its a lose lose situation as long as old farts in Singapore continue deciding what we can watch.
Legitimate Anime is failing in Singapore, its not gonna recover anytime soon and with this recent hoohah, good quality legitimate Anime will cease to exist here in no time.
Anyway, might i suggest knitting as an alternate hobby? Or if you don’t want to spend money, nose snot collecting is free and self produced. It’ll be Singapore’s No.1 hobby when other stuff starts getting banned too or come with lawsuits.
Singapore is a FINE City indeed.
well then there is only 1 thing left to do if this really a war we fans r gonna lose. All we can do is work like mad save up hell of alot of cash n migrate to another country n leave SG n Odex to rot. I bet even when forigners migrate to Sg n they r anime fans they will also pack up n leave after seeing what is going on.
Well, as long as you know that ‘Just migrating’ isn’t as easy as it sounds, and involves alot of initial hardships and adjustments to be made in your life, then no one will stop you from going that route.
To be really honest I think that migration is merely big talk. Initially while I was still hot on this issue I said it too. But search yourself, it’s gotta take so much more than just lack of anime to uproot yourself completely and replant yourself somewhere else. You’ll probably find that for this one problem you solved, even after you’ve settled in there’ll be 3 new problems. What are you gonna do then, migrate all your life?
I love anime. All of us here do. But some things are just not worth giving up your whole life and environment for.
Ya, I agree with what Farinelli said. There are always alternatives. Anyway, I’ve walked the “green mile” and just a word of advice for those who’ve gotten the letter and are going down for the “discussion”, don’t bother talking too much. No need to tell them things such as “I didn’t know that it was illegal to donwload” blah blah. Just tell them straight that you wanna pay the “fine”. They are not interested in your “excuses” (though in my case, it’s not an excuse but the truth). But I need to say something here, the people at ODEX are at least very helpful and courteous.
Meow!!!
I’m waiting for you.
My guess is that it didn’t turn out too ugly for you. Anymore details? At least yours would be a first-person account.
Sorry, I can’t say much as I’m not supposed to disclose anything pertaining the discussion. Ugly or not ugly? I’ve no idea how ugly yet? I’m still waiting for decision (for those who’ve gone down this road will understand what I meant here). To me, it has already happened. Nothing much I do now can divert or resolve it. Just hit it head on and then move on.
I understand. It’s like a 2 party mediation process. Even if you were willing to pay the damages they stated, it’s up to the Japanese company to decide to accept the damages or not.
If they are unhappy, they can choose not to accept the damages and still go ahead and sue you. It takes two hands to clap.
Please correct me if my assumption is wrong.
erm i think tt the fines tt we hab to pay is rather too much. and if i am not wrong is to odex itself rite? i suspect tt they are using such chance of earning money. can CPIB be involve to check and make sure that the money we paid is indeed on paying to the ISP and the company tt they hire to track us down? coz they claim tt they din earn a single cent out of it?
btw if i am not wrong again. they juz simply catch any series that the got it in their list no matter when u download the files. meaning tt if u download it long ago b4 they licensed it, they will still be able to catch u rite?
lyk many others do. waiting for this company to end its business? i dun think it will be any sonner. as they can juz simply take out an old list with ur ip and sue u to earn money to sustain their lost and earn more.
and a question tt needed an answer.
if u kena caught liao lyk for example for in feb u download but was sent the letter during august. and u hab totally stop such activities. then when later on will they send u another letter for example in november saying tt u are charge as u did ur downloads in months tt were after feb but b4 sept assuming tt one had stop after the letter is being recieved.
can we look for our MPs to voice our opinon to them? afterall most of them are lawyers
To aaron,
They can catch you as long as you download anything from the list because Odex is acting in the name of the Anti Video Piracy Association (AVPAS). So meaning even if you downloaded hentai which you can never find them legally here, you might still be charged if it is produced by the sme companies in which AVPAS represents.
Taking a quick look at the lists, you will find that a handful have heavy hentai/ shojo-ai/ shonen-ai or even yaoi content.
To aaron:follow the newspaper closely these few days and you’ll get your answers (especially today’s TODAY paper).
Actually, I am juz playing with a tot. Maybe we should juz form an anime club, each member will contribute a small amt every month, use these $ to buy animes from overseas and then share share these animes among ourselves. Of course, in order to protect ourselves, members have to sign a letter that no dubbing of the DVDs are allowed. Anyway, juz a tot…
To Meow: I’m all for the anime club. But this club still cannot see daylight because all the videos we import in technically must go through BOFC… so no hentai …
And besides, who has the say to get which anime? Like someone like Mecha but others like Harem type… etc… teething issues will be plenty.
That’s y it’s juz a tot…
to people who replied mi. thax u.
to meow. i will also join the club if it is setuped. pehaps if the club is big then the problem will be solved. as people who lyk tt show pay for it will do. lyk abcd contribute to the fund. but they haven got their anime so their funds will be left untouch until the anime they wan then it will be use loh. juz a suggestion tou. lolz
I’m looking thru my stack of anime DVDs and VCDs and trying to sift out the ones that belong to ODEX. You know, I’m tempted to juz find an empty plot of land in Singapore and juz dump those DVDs and VCDs there (ya, I know dumping is an offense in Singapore). At the same time, I’d like to ask those people who wish to dump theirs there at this plot of land too. I believe the stack of “waste” will be quite a sight to behold, what with so many angered otaku. Who knows, we may get news coverage and at the same time, bring across our unhappiness at how this situation is being handled.
We’re back n with more to add… the p[ast few days Pacific Net PPL kena... and there has been issues on news paper saying that ODEX overcharge the teenagers for downloading anime... one guy suggested that ODEX "CHARGE ONLY THE PRICE THAT THEY ARE SELLING THE ANIME VCD AT AND NOT AT THE PRICE OF 4 FIGURE SUMS"
Sakurazaki Says: Anyways... Many schools and institutions have been talkin about tis... They juz dun wan us to download those that they have licensed... One suggested this "I will juz "Download" those that they haven licensed and aso do it in the campus... but tis way the fine is heavier as you are aso using the Government's property to do something aganist the law... Okay juz watch it online wads wrong wif watching it online... juz stop downloading these animes... they cant stop us from watching online... If we watch online, their company will not earn money too... To me frankly... I will support Taiwan imported Disc rather than ODEX's Disc... and has anyone noticed that ODEX was set-up in 1999 but onli came out with new animation Disc like 3 or 4 years ago? An the Animation licensed are usaualli Shown on Mediacorp ChannelU, Starhub channel 56 and Animax Channel 84... Juz subscribe to thses chnls... which r cheap btw... I n Mr.Anti myself subscribe to these Chnls.
Mr.Anti says" Juz dont care about the "F-word" ODEX... They cant do anything to us once we stop downloading and watch online... they cannot catch us for watching online... they do not have the freakin rite to do so... I represent the Sch of ITE... and alot of the PPL in my sch have decided to stop supporting ODEX products a few years ago due to their Quality of videos... Juz nid on word to discribe it "Atrocious" It's worse than watching on Youtube... or Veoh... Actualli U wan DL is not cannot... is say u dare anot... or try to find ways to not use torrents... It is said on a website if U dl an Anime to watch and delete it within the next few days... then it's alright but it is not true as they keep track of what you're doing on the net... Tis is b'coz due to the increase in Cyvbercrime... If these idiots dun do Cyber crime, Odex would nvr go check if ppl are dl-ing animes n such rite? So blame those that do Cybercrime like as if their father is the upstairs[Quote from show "Just Follow Law"]
That’s all we have to say think about it… and if u buy their disc and burn aren’t they earning money? That’s wad they wan use to do… heheheehehe… Evil hor… ish like tad de…. It’s the freakin ODEX’s fault… Singapore nvr ask them catch anime downloaders… Singapore nvr ask them to fine these PPL heavily… Singapore nvr ask them to sell CD in Singapore… it’s beacuse of Odex…
There will be a ODEX product destruction cermony on 25th august 2007 … visit odex-rebellion.blogspot.com for more details
well i agree with most of the opinions on just watching anime online for now.it’s wont happen,at least any sooner for the downfall of Odex company.
firstly they hold a advantage over us in form of using the term”illegal download” as a sword and shield against us.anyway form of disput will be put down on that.
secondly if they were hoping for a regain of profit by stopping downloaders,i guess we shouldnt let them even have a chance on that.how long can they continue this atrocity?afterall they are a big company and profit is wat they are looking for ,they cant forever fight a war that they have to keep coughing out lums and lums of profit.
so for the safety of us anime fans as well as keeping anime roaming in singapore.for now just watch through online,if u are a collector like myself import animes ,at least they are of better quality that is worth the keepsake then cheapo cds with a jap translation that ruins the whole anime out of it’s fun.
again i have to say this,for the head of Odex do THINK of not just the profits but other factors like spreading a better j-culture hobby in singapore -.-
Hi guys i’m just checking.. Is the downloads from Veoh considered bit torrent ? Will they be able to track me if i’m using veoh downloads ? Also what about sites that offer direct downloada like bleach exile ? Are they about to track direct downloads straight from the web ?
No, it’s not considered bittorrent, but it’s definitely considered illegal. Technically speaking, they can track direct downloads, but they are not doing so yet
Me = Back
After reading today’s issues of Todayâ„¢ Newspaper on Page 18… A local anime fan writes in to say about what ODEX is doing and what he has said is quite true… so much so that more than 70% of Singapore has stopped supporting ODEX[sourced from survey done within Singapore by Anime-Lover groups]… And it is said within the same page of this newspaper that “It is actualli a breach of privacy to be allowed to track waht the net users are doing. If this goes on all companies will juz start suing people and not do their usual trade of business”
Which i infact find it quite true… if they can do this so can we… we can use the advanced technology to track wad others are doing… which is a breach of privacy… ODEX is not a government company and mani said on the net that they MIGHT not have the Authority to overcharge the fine… The children dl and the parenst end up paying this freakin large sum which I say REALLY is overcharged… so what if he fines us and earn money we shld all juz stop and let his company rot and DIE… ODEX is slow, inefficent and is incapable of providing the latest naime to the general public… in China and Taiwan… the anime shown in JPN itself will shortly be telecasted on their TV chnls within the nxt wk or mnth as they have various Chnls that shows subbed anime shows 24/7 a day[Sourced from friend in Taiwan, know him thru student Xchange Prog]
It is not we who caused this ruckus… it’s their fault to begin wif as they shown inefficency to provide anime on demand and licensing them b4 releasing them.. this is to me juz plain atrocious
To add to what Sakurazaki SAID:
RE; THE FOLLOWING IS THE ORIGINAL MESSAGE FOUND IN THE NEWSPAPER’S RIGHT HAND LOWER CORNER
It is appalling to learn that
customers’ information can now
be disclosed by Singapore’s
Internet Service Providers. This
is a breach of the individual’s
right of privacy and with such a
precedent in place, this has
paved a way for future lucrative
business opportunities whereby
companies just issue fines
instead of sticking to their
original trades.
IF COMPANIES START DOING THIS… THE WHOLE WORLD WILL BECOME CORRUPTED…
I INFACT WANT TO WITNESS THE DOWNFALL OF THE COMPANY ODEX… THOU SHALL NOT “F” WIF MR.ANTI
Thanks for the response TedFox. Guess i’ll lie low for a while =)
Hey,
Anybody from Starhub been Odex-ed yet?
Guess its time to lie low…
ok current there is still no news of starhub user with the fine yet i guess.they must be still digging out the 1000 ip that odex request bah.may the light shine on those who are killed in this anime war and save those who are suffering the agony of waiting to be slaughtered ~>..>
hehe… Who says no one kena caught… there has been about 30 people who suffered the 2nd attk wave… half from Singtel, half from Starhub… is juz tad Starhub people are juz protected for too long… Even if u lie low now, they can still request for imformation of wad anime u have downloaded since last yr thru “bit torrent”… yes bit torrent coz tis source bigger so mostly attk torrents but now since they step up mayb will catch all… But best of course is to stop now… or they might get more things to fine u… in actual fact… the fines that people pay actualli do not sum up to 10 or 20k… assuming if they dun go on court… but still it is a bit too overcharged… the fines amt up to btwn $3500 to $5000[highest one guy got fined]
Y u all still talking abt tis… juz lay low watch online better than getting caught by Odex… Needless to say I post tis as someone I know got fined for dl-ing anime using torrents
For those who care, tune in to 938Live’s Talkback programme from 8.15am to 8.45am 24 Aug (friday) for a debate on this issue. Call 6691 1938 to share your thoughts. Abstract from Today papers:
Is Odex stretching the law in its actions against illegal anime downloaders? Considering the age of some culprits, would a warning letter be enough? What trail has Odex blazed for other Intellectual Property owners? These were questions raised by TODAY commentator Thomas Koshy and other readers in the past week.
Here’s another update:
http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest+News/Courts+and+Crime/STIStory_151108.html
Saw on the newspaper TODAY that Pacnet won against ODEX! I’m not sure whether to feel elated for frustrated?! Elated I guess ‘cos Pacnet won the case and thus supplied a stepping stone for ODEX. Frustrated ‘cos it’s unfair to the Singnet and Starhub users! I guess it’s time to switch ISP oredi. Seems like big players always kanna…
lol it seems like odex will be losing a 1000 ip worth of profit from Pacnet users =P.they deserve it.i wonder how the starhub and singtel companies will respond to this.since they have released the ip which was ” forced without any ablility to defend” the ip users
conpensation i hope lol to those who are affected by odex.after all they did not stand firm on their rules.
I’m very sure that ODEX is gonna appeal. As for Starhub, if they’ve not released the info to ODEX yet, they may have a fighting chance. Perhaps Starhub should use the legal team that Pacnet use for their appeal, should they consider. But I believe Singtel is too late ‘cos quite a no. of their customers already received the “letter of death” (ie info already given out to ODEX), me being one of them. This makes me wonder if the legal team used by Singtel & Starhub are too weak or perhaps these ISPs don’t have much fighting spirits to protect the privacy of their customers.
Anyway, 3 cheers for the judge presiding over the case of ODEX vs Pacnet and also another 3 cheers for the legal team representing Pacnet!
Starhub had already lost the case earlier, and if i’m not wrong, there are actually starhub users who have recieved the letter.
yea i have heard of the news of some starhub users has already received the letter of death
i really have no comments on wat ever damn is happening to singapore and odex
but wat i can say is i am pretty sad aboout it -.-
.i think as for odex vs pacnet.they did a appeal that might be arised again 14 days after the lost of the case.
hope pacnet can win the war somehow.at least this will bring up some light into the darkness
If I wanted to get an anime DVD and found it only available on Amazon or other online shops, but after a long search on the Internet I found a direct link or a torrent file to download it, I would choose the latter. I would tell people about that source and those would tell others, and so on. I see it happening that way. Many anime fans prefer fansubs over dubbed anime. I knew about the number of leechers as well as the seeds of a latest fan-subbed episode of Bleach reaching above 22,000! A total of, maybe, over 50,000 people downloaded that episode. Will not that affect the sales of the dubbed anime?
Well, from my conclusion.
Boycotting Odex is a good way to discourage them, but still.
It doesn’t really solve anything as their profiteering from the $3000-$5000 fines their hitting on people.
&I would somehow, want to be enlightened to know if watching online from CrunchyRoll, or Veoh and so on, is a 100% safe way to watch it.
Besides, why would Singaporeans continue downloading animes even though their allowed to watch online without having the risk of being caught?
That seems like a really wierd and stupid thing to do when people from other countries have subbed versions and are uploading for Singaporeans and others to watch?
Well, for your info, lots of people didn’t know that downloading anime is illegal till it was too late. Please also bear in mind that not much awareness was done as well. Furthermore, not everyone knows that online anime viewing is available. Like in my case, i only know that YouTube is one of the options but the quality can sometimes be very bad.
I guess after this incident, I believe a lot of people will switch to online watching AND BOYCOTTING ODEX, whether one’s an anime fan or not.
I must agree with Meow. Had a friend who actually asked me if there is any good titles to recommend, just 2 weekends ago. He didn’t even know about the Odex clamping down issue. Shocked, I thought I was the one who seldom read the papers. Now what I would like to correct is, “downloading anime is illegal”, I would prefer to say downloading in general, it seems like no matter what the reasons, everything and anything is copyright, so it is best not to download anything…
I on the other hand, I know of other streaming sites besides youtube, because I refused to watch anime on youtube unless what i really want to know what goes in the next episode (i watch it raw).
Anyhow, am switching over to online watching (eventhough it is still not exactly right to do so) and manga reading…gonna cost me a bomb but hey, at least I get less trouble this way. But only one problem left, I have to suffer from withdrawal symptoms now…no more Claymore, Seirei no Moribito, D.Gray man, Saiunkoku Monogatari 2 and etc…
Haha..I believe you’ll not be the only one suffering from withdrawal symptoms. But of course, lots of people are switching to online watching so the symptoms should not be so unbearable. Hope that all anime fans will be able to survive this dark age…may the force be with us…
been watching claymore on crunchyroll. but anyone positively sure tt’s watching videos online is legal? cos according to my fren, dueing the buffering part u are actually dl/uploading the actual show.
and btw starhub also didnt put up a fight with odex
Well, at least according to newspaper, Starhub at least was at the hearing of the outcome of the sentence whereas Singnet was totally absent. Anyway, I guess it’s too late now to argue much about anything now. We, Singaporeans, don’t have much of a choice when it comes to ISP. Furthermore, seems like the ODEX saga is kindda of dying down oredi…everyone’s waiting to see whether will ODEX appeal…
mm.. ic.. anyway meow, take care and good luck
well they are getting too much popularity from this incident.”unwanted” popularity.i guess even if they do appeal,that will only be the last 1000 ip they can drain money from.but i do hope that they will still lose.not becos of me hating them but the fact that justice have to be done to the poor ppl who came to becoming the victim of their blood bath.
stabbing a 9 year old kid with a 3000 dollar dagger is really something worst then a human can be-.-
nothing can be done
Especially for those who are in the second wave of attack http://siewkumhong.blogspot.com/2007/08/odex-pte-ltd-v-pacific-internet-limited.html
@TdFex or whatever the fuck your name is
You’ve got to be one of the most annoying, close minded, money hungry idiots I have ever came across.
Fuck you
Yawn… pot calling kettle black
S.F althought many is anger by wat odex did
but it has nothing to do with tedfox
his is meerly speaking in his point of view.
pls do reframe from flaming your anger in here.
it’s is not tedfox fault for giving personal opinions.
cos now odex is the one that is spamming the ammos on everyone =)
What did tedfox do to make S.F so pissed off??
Anyway, my condolences to Singnet victims… It seems that the Starhub and PacNet users are sparred… because SS will not be claiming compensation from anybody downloading before Monday 3rd September. Scource: Straits Times.
… Meaning… I’m sparred!!! Damned.. should have DL-ed Bleach last week.
For those who are interested in reading the article:
http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_154859.html?vgnmr=1
So I guess after this ODEX saga is over, people will be attacking Singnet. It’s still unbelievable that Singnet would give up without a fight. Business is too good for them that they thought a minor thing like this will not blow up in their face. Singnet is going to lose a lot of business once existing Singnet users’ accounts expire.
Could not care less, I’m gonna download DVD-rips of every show I see, and buy the DVD’s ONLY for those that I liked (Nanoha, Mai Hime, Higurashi, etc). Don’t give 2 cents of copyrights
So safe to download naruto since it is not in the list??
Anyone?