It all started during Tuesday, a day after I pledged to read the newspaper wholeheartedly. Mom told me thats theres an article about Anime downloading is illegal and asked me whether I downloaded is illegal or not?
Regardless on what situation I might stand, the minute I read about this article I was furious. Firstly, I'm an Otaku I have to say, but I'm near obession. The thing is cutting of Singapore from a wide torrenting network is ridiculous and just because of this court order our ISP have to reveal the people who actually download anime recently. Isn't that against our privacy rights? Anyway I don't really know much about the Law, but I know a bit know how. Later, I continue digging up more information about ODEX and Stephen Sing, one of the directer of ODEX.
Not surprising from the reaction of the Anime Community, including myself, they weren't really happy about this banning of anime download and napping the downloaders through the way of our ISP. I stumbled upon this picture and I found it very interesting, but due to this Wild Wild Web I will not comment on it. This picture was done by a Malaysian Anime Blogger named Atalude, whom I presumed. You can check out more of his website HERE
The next day, Tuesday, I was searching through the Strait Times for articles about ODEX for the criticism the Anime Community has given him and his company. There was none and when my Father returned home, he bought The New Paper, and it hit the headlines! Feedback from the Anime Community, this totally spiked my interest.
Right.. The picture ehh? Finally this proves that words from the Netizens will definitely reach the Press. Well I did got a good feeling about this picture being publish at the very least. It talked about Mr. Sing here gloating about the sue-ing he have done to the Anime Community.
The fellow used words such as 'double-6-ed', which meant hitting or striking the opponent. His actual quotes were, "Hahahahaha!! I double-6-ed so many downloaders~ serve them right!" and "Nope~ Me too busy sueing people~" This words posted 2 weeks ago, which he claims to be posted 2 months ago and had already forgotten on what he had posted on the forums. This article was mainly about him being overworried about his safety as some anime fans indeed threaten to "We'll beat you up & burn your house" so he called the police.
This incident actaully made Netizens more think him of a "wuss" & "spine-less". I shall not mention the names of people who have posted such words but none the very least, I guess Mr. Sing must be really afraid about his safety. Anyways in some other people opinion, find that this article is showing the public how "un-civilised" our Anime Community is.
Final thoughts: This fiasco has definitely has allowed the younger generation to be more exposed to the Copyright world they are living in and how serious this matter is. However, the ones that really suffer are their parents that actually have to pay this sum of money. Some parents might actually be unaware of this. Some anime fans though has already found out other plans to obtain Anime, at the very least legally. This proves humans are at least creative and resourceful. However, I definitely agree, along with GameAxis, SGCafe & HardwareZone, that the fine for this Anime Downloaders are too harsh, especially to the younger genration of anime lovers. There are threads in forums mentioning the boycott of ODEX products but as this fiasco unravels, it just generates more unhappiness in the Anime Community.
To end my 10-cents worth, if your are curious about whats happening feel free to drop by to SGCafe or Hardwarezone to find out more.
