What is Digg?53 Comments
- mrurc, on 10/10/2007, -2/+31You can't sue people for violating copyrights that you don't own. That is more than a licensing technicality; it is lack of standing. It's like the SCO case only with SCO admitting that Novell owns the copyrights.
- aryo, on 10/10/2007, -4/+23in this article, stephen sing, a director of said company is caught joking about being "too busy suing people":
http://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-anime-downloaders-identified-3000-bill-in-the-mail/
apparently, he's "the most hated main in Singapore’s anime community", to the point where anime fans were posting pictures of his wife on the internet. we should start doing that to wives of RIAA bosses. - j0keR, on 11/04/2007, -7/+23People's families need to be brought into it. When you ruin other people's family's lives, they deserve retribution.
- uberkling, on 11/04/2007, -1/+17Why should we give a damn about anime licensors in western countries anyway? The production house in Japan are a different story. I have infinite respect for the work they do and the "off the books" stance they take to the world of fansubbing, but as for the companies licensing the material it's hard to care.
Generally speaking, and I know a lot of anime fans, even ones that do buy a stack of dvds will agree with me on this (not that I don't buy dvd's myself for the really good series), fansubs are superior to the subtitles on licensed releases which are more of an afterthought in place of the dubbed audio tracks.
A very large percentage of people prefer listening to the original japanese track which generally is much better than the English tracks (this admitedly isn't always true, as a friend of mine pointed out to me the English track for the series "El Hazard" was much better in English, and I agreed with him after listening to both).
Anyway, I think the whole fansub/anime downloading culture is a very different animal to the warez/movie/music downloading scene or at least that's the impression I get. If you look at the work that goes into the production of the material and then the subsequent seed/leech ratio of certain trackers it does paint a more altruistic picture. I think that if the anime houses themselves decided to distribute their wares as a first party in Australia, America and Western Europe then most of their audience would happily go out and buy it.
Anime distributors are paying the creators of the content a flat fee to take their content and repackage it as an inferior product in a market they (the producers) don't consider important. As such, most people who download anime take a view that they're not really harming the producers so they don't care. I know that a point of reply might be that if the distributors go out of business then the producers do lose an oppourtunity for profit, but I'm only trying to paint a picture of the average western anime fan's mentality, not justify anything.
It's really not that different from TV networks in foreign countries that pick up solid American genre shows, show them for 3 weeks in a primetime slot, bump them to 12am and then move them around, insert random repeat episodes, cut the actual season short and bring it back 6 months later unadvertised, and then complain about Bittorrent users downloading them. Oh well. Ces la vis. - SilverBlade2k, on 10/10/2007, -3/+16if only a judge in the U.S would do that against the RIAA and MPAA
- hexydes, on 11/05/2007, -1/+13You're better than them, act like it. Most people are beginning to perceive the RIAA and MPAA as the scum of the Earth that they are; if you sink to their level, you'll look like a thug or a terrorist, and you'll just lose support for your cause, which is exactly what those organizations want, to paint you like an evil, malicious pirate.
- amfantasy, on 11/04/2007, -3/+14The RIAA/MPAA ruins families, we can't we ruin their family
- flameboy, on 10/10/2007, -3/+14The distributor just got owned by a licensing technicality, doesn't really affect the practice of suing bittorrent users. But its still nice to read about :)
- Ratteler, on 10/10/2007, -1/+10Yes. Any new technology that you don't learn to use to your benefit will turn around to bite you in the ass.
We didn't protect the town criers from movable type.
We didn't protect newspapers from radio.
We didn't protect radio from TV.
We didn't protect Film from TV.
We didn't protect the Pony Express from Railroads.
We didn't protect the railroads from the Car and Truck.
We didn't protect the railroads from the plane.
No where in history have we protect an outdated business model from a technological advancement... until now.
Why are we allowing these media empires to be protected from the Internet instead of letting them adapt and find a new business model. - DeusNova, on 10/10/2007, -1/+7I fansub myself and I found this article interesting. As uberkling said...fansub are superior to licensed DVD releases and it's indeed a whole different scene then actually pirating stuff. Everyone in a fansub group puts a lot of effort into what ever they're subbing. It's a very systematic process and it can be tedious to enjoyable. People sub anime because they're a fan of it and they want it to accessible to the general public in the highest quality possible. Fansubbing has only done positive things to me. I met very interesting people, my Japanese improved a lot and even my English skills improve. There's no negative sides to fansubbing, it's the opposite of anti-social. It's amazing how close you can get to people on IRC. =)
- kroneko, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5 'I find this highly unlikely because America represents a nearly insignificant source of profit for them. '
I wouldn't go that far... - tomakun, on 10/10/2007, -3/+6I think we can take comfort in the fact that we will most likely never be sued for downloading anime unless the Japanese studio who holds the copyright goes after us. I find this highly unlikely because America represents a nearly insignificant source of profit for them.
- Ratteler, on 10/10/2007, -2/+5No. We need to go even lower. So low that they are afraid to pull the ***** they are pulling. I say we unleash terror on these ***** so bad that their neighbors move, out of fear.
Stop pirating our public domain, OR ELSE! - Trel, on 10/10/2007, -2/+5That and the fact, that when an anime becomes popular here, it's usually through downloading before it's dubbed.
- eean, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4Well I wouldn't say "being a copyright holder" is really a technicality.
- 5thWall, on 10/10/2007, -2/+5I agree w/ Salgat, there is no reason we should stoop too their level.
- redwire, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3This happened in Singapore it should be pointed out and overall the general population is a tad more technically savvy there then a US one.
Things like when the judge critiqued the practice of harvesting IP's and trying to assign them to defendants as transparently stupid is pretty much what you would expect to happen when you have a population with a clue about technology.
Its a shame the US is so far behind and its costing them in things like this. - Salgat, on 10/10/2007, -11/+13Leave people's families out of this, but feel free to post embarrassing pictures of RIAA bosses none-the-less.
- daftman, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3I will probably be buried for this, but can't they simply argue that they have distribution rights? It doesn't have to be copyright. They can still start a civil action based on distribution rights and claim that bittorrent is distributing contents which they have distribution rights. This is how GPL operates as it works on distribution rights not copyright. In addition many exclusive distributor such as for electrical products, etc are able sue those who purchase goods privately in order to resell in their own country.
- Novion76, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2out of curiosity, anyone know the anime that the picture in the article is from?
- cherishes, on 10/10/2007, -3/+5Writing from Singapore here..
Cant believe its on digg... hahas, Digg it people!!!! - Grace1129, on 10/10/2007, -2/+4And you have legal right to steal the copyrighted works? Rrrright.
- Atomic1fire, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2what I dont get is why the original producer just doesnt go for the new market they have and be able to make more money themselves
- nephilimx, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2100s of anime's are licenced in the western world and have been released on DVD, Its not the only way
- koko775, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3Well, they're suing the ***** out of people and ruining those who defend themselves as well as damaging those who settle financially, yet one of the people in charge has a daughter who download music? While nobody deserves to go through profound familial damage, it might help if they felt the pain they're dealing out. Taste of their own medicine, and all.
- palehorse864, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Or not being one in the case of the distributor who is suing.
- ozzyzak, on 11/04/2007, -1/+2It saddens me to see this so highly dugg. I don't understand why anyone would want to harm these people's family in any way. I guess we're past the point about not stooping to their low level. Of course, let's be just as ***** up as they are, sounds about right for the average digg user nowaday.
- geartype2, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1umm, they did protect film from tv, and radio from tv, and newspapers from radio. As each new technology became available there were insane taxes applied to them for no other reason than to slow down their development while politicians refocused their assets in those stocks. TV still holds restrictions, and taxes because of the film industry.
- InfinitySnatch, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2That's a relief. Gurren Lagann is good, but not $3,500 good. Close though.
- rakslice, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1By "distribution rights", do you mean the exclusive distribution rights that the copyright holder has?
- Travelsonic, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Expect nobody to take you serious with your absorbtion of doom and gloom exaggerated FUD/
- RyomaNagare, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1yes, you are right on that, except, that in that case you should be able to sue the one who is violating your distribution rights i.e. bittorrent, protocol or creator. because those distribution rights won't allow to sue over illegal copies, only distribution.
- hooksie, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Cute.
- Sarevok9, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1looks kinda like to heart or Elemental Gelade
- Error601, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Pretty bad when the headline is made inaccurate by the description.
- heliosys, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0He should be referring rights to solely distribute items, owned by the copyright holder, over a particular geographical area.
eg. If they have the right to solely distribute xyz over Singapore, no other people or organization should be distributing xyz in Singapore. If you were to do so, technically he can sue you for wrongful loss of profit due to your action. - seiryu76, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1OMG, I lived in Singapore so I'm affected by this. How about all of those people who paid ODEX $3000 ??
They should mount a class action suit against ODEX to at least get their money back and while they are at it, don't let SINGNET off the hook also.
SINGNET disclose their customer information to ODEX. I'm right now on SINGNET but after my contract is over, they can kiss my hairy ass !! - Atomic1fire, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2they couldn't because RIAA/MPAA represent the copyright owners
- heliosys, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0Forget to add in by earlier comment, once you have the rights to solely distribute an item over that geographical area you are almost equal to the copyright owner for that item over that
- inactive, on 11/05/2007, -1/+1It's not stealing, it's copyright infringement . . . . GET IT RIGHT YOU DUMB *****!
- wil2200, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1yea for anime! subs rule
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -3/+2Enjoy your cartoons without the fear of having to smash open the piggy bank, children. O wait these are 'adult' productions. GTFO.
- MrSunshine, on 10/10/2007, -3/+2Expect less quality animes because the companies don't have any budget anymore.
- omgsoemo, on 10/10/2007, -3/+2Can they really blame us? There is no other way for us to get our Anime
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -3/+1Anime FOREVER! Torrents RULE!
- Zelgadiss, on 10/10/2007, -3/+0All I can say is
MUHAHAHAHAHA - inactive, on 10/10/2007, -4/+1I would!
- ashke, on 10/10/2007, -4/+1Finally! Some sanity!
- Atomic1fire, on 10/10/2007, -8/+2Lets just remove copyrights
so people who steal peoples photos can make money off them
and you can get free movies off the internet
NO SOUP TO THE RIAA
/sarcasm - redthirteen, on 10/10/2007, -8/+1Dumb ass Asian 8=>
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