UPDATE 20/11/2007: I have confirmations from an Odex employee that the whole thing was a mistake made by BayTSP. LOL. Show’s over, guys. Expect damage control to kick in soon.
UPDATE AGAIN: It seems that I wasn’t too clear. I have independent confirmation from a current Odex employee that the whole thing was a mistake. This is not based on any comments left in this entry, but rather first hand information from the employee himself.
UPDATE 21/11/2007: Read The New Paper’s article. LOL.
Okay, now the shit really hits the fan. After months of silence, Odex has resumed its attack, this time on an international scale. If you’ve been living under a rock for the past year or so and don’t know who Odex is, please refer to Wikipedia.
Godwin’s Law be damned
Reports are emerging that people from USA, France, Japan and probably various other countries are receiving warnings from their ISPs about illegal anime downloads.
In particular, the French ISP Club Internet and the Japanese ISP USEN attached logs from BayTSP, sent on behalf of Odex, with their warning e-mails. This clearly identifies Odex/AVPAS as the source of the infringement complaints. USA’s Comcast did not identify the right holder, but the timing of this whole thing and the similar format of the logs indicate that this is probably not a coincidence.
Odex is definitely responsible for the warnings.
Some important paragraphs from the e-mails included after the break.
Club Internet (France)
Club Internet – T-Online FranceName
address
FranceCountryDear Sir or Madam:
BayTSP, Inc. (“BayTSP”) swears under penalty of perjury that it is authorized to act on behalf of ODEX Private Limited/Anti Video Piracy Association (Singapore) (collectively known as ODEX/AVPAS), the exclusive licensees and/or authorized agents of the owners of copyright materials and interests (the Copyright Owners) that is protected in Singapore under applicable copyright laws in force and enacted pursuant to various international treaties. BayTSP’s search of the protocol listed below has detected infringements of exclusive copyright interests on your IP addresses as detailed in the attached report.
BayTSP has reasonable good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of in the attached report is not authorized by the Copyright Owners, their agents, or the law. The information provided herein is accurate to the best of our knowledge. The attached documentation specifies the exact location of the infringement.
Attachment:
Contact BayTSP, authorized agent for ODEX PRIVATE LIMITED/AVPAS at the address listed above or via email should you have any concerns or questions at compliance@baytsp.com. Also please note that this infringement notice contains an XML tag that can be used to automate the processing of this data.
Evidentiary Information:
Notice ID: 61192
Asset: Ouran High School Host Club
Protocol: BitTorrent
IP Address: 89.85.xx.xx
DNS: i07v-89-85-xx-xx.d4.club-internet.fr
File Name:
[Nerae]_Ouran_High_School_Host_Club_22_[57603381].avi
File Size: 370843648
Timestamp: 11 Nov 2007 06:17:33 GMT
Last Seen Date: 11 Nov 2007 06:17:33 GMT
URL: http://bt.nerae.com:7072/announce
Username (if available):
[ Source: bikasuishin ]
USEN GyaO Hikari (Japan)
æ ªå¼ä¼šç¤¾ ＵＳＥＮ
ã„ã¤ã‚‚「GyaO å…‰ã€ã‚’ã”利用ã„ãŸã ãã€èª ã«ã‚ã‚ŠãŒã¨ã†ã”ã–ã„ã¾ã™ã€‚
ã“ã®åº¦å¤–部よりã€ã€Œ221.251.XXX.XXXã€ã®IPアドレスã«ã¦å„ä¼æ¥ãƒ»å€‹äººãŒè‘—作権 を有ã™ã‚‹ãƒ‡ãƒ¼ã‚¿ã‚’公開ã—ã¦ã„ã‚‹ã¨ã®ã”連絡をå—ã‘ã¦ãŠã‚Šã¾ã™ã€‚弊社ã«ã¦ç¢ºèªã•ã›ã¦é ‚ãã¾ã—ãŸã¨ã“ã‚ã€ã€Œï¼°ï¼©ï¼®ï¼¡ï¼®ï¼³ï¼«ï¼¹ï¼³ï¼¡ï¼ï¼µï¼¥ï¼¬ã€æ§˜ã®ã”利用ã®ç’°å¢ƒã‹ã‚‰é€ä¿¡ã•ã‚ŒãŸäº‹ãŒåˆ¤æ˜Žè‡´ã—ã¾ã—ãŸã€‚
著作者ã«ç„¡æ–ã§è¤‡è£½ãƒ»è¨˜è¼‰ãƒ»åŠ 工・使用ç‰ã‚’ã™ã‚‹è¡Œç‚ºã¯ã€è‘—作権ã®ä¾µå®³ã«ã‚ãŸã‚Šã¾ã™ã€‚弊社約款上ã€ã€Œ 当社もã—ãã¯ä»–人ã®çŸ¥çš„財産所有権（特許権ã€å®Ÿç”¨æ–°æ¡ˆã€è‘—作権ã€æ„åŒ æ¨©ã€å•†æ¨™æ¨©ç‰ï¼‰ãã®ä»–ã®æ¨©åˆ©ã‚’侵害ã™ã‚‹è¡Œç‚ºã¾ãŸã¯ä¾µå®³ã™ã‚‹æã‚Œã®ã‚る行為（著作権侵害防æ¢ã®ãŸã‚ã®æŠ€è¡“çš„ä¿è·æ‰‹æ®µã‚’回é¿ã™ã‚‹ãŸã‚ã®æƒ…å ±ã€æ©Ÿå™¨ã¾ãŸã¯ã‚½ãƒ•ãƒˆã‚¦ã‚§ã‚¢ç‰ã‚’æµé€šã•ã›ã‚‹è¡Œç‚ºã‚’å«ã¿ã¾ã™ã€‚）ã€ã¯ç¦æ¢ã¨ã•ã›ã¦é ‚ã„ã¦ãŠã‚Šï¼ˆç¬¬29æ¡ï¼(5)ï¼ã‚¢ï¼‰ã€è¦ç´„é•å行為ã«é–¢ã—ã¾ã—ã¦ã¯åˆ©ç”¨åœæ¢ã¨ã•ã›ã¦é ‚ãå ´åˆã‚‚ã”ã–ã„ã¾ã™ã€‚
今後ã¨ã‚‚該当ã™ã‚‹è¡Œç‚ºãŒç¶™ç¶šã•ã‚ŒãŸå ´åˆã€ä»–ã®ãŠå®¢æ§˜ã‚„外部ã®ãƒãƒƒãƒˆãƒ¯ãƒ¼ã‚¯ã«å¯¾ã—ã¦è¿·æƒ‘ãŒã‹ã‹ã‚Šã¾ã™ãŸã‚ã€æ—©æ€¥ãªå¯¾å¿œã‚’å¿…è¦ã¨ã—ã¦ãŠã‚Šã¾ã™ã€‚
Attachment:
Contact BayTSP, authorized agent for ODEX PRIVATE LIMITED/AVPAS at the address listed above or via email should you have any concerns or questions at compliance@baytsp.com. Also please note that this infringement notice contains an XML tag that can be used to automate the processing of this data.
Evidentiary Information:
Notice ID: 35082
Asset: SHUGO CHARA
Protocol: BitTorrent
IP Address: 221.251.XXX.XXX
DNS: 221x251xXXXxXXX.ap221.ftth.ucom.ne.jp
File Name:
[Formula]_Shugo_Chara!_-_01_[h264][E1719697].mkv
File Size: 147505790
Timestamp: 12 Nov 2007 12:43:44 GMT
Last Seen Date: 12 Nov 2007 12:43:44 GMT
URL: http://tracker.scarywater.net:443/announce
Username (if available):
[ Source: Quarkboy on AnimeSuki ]
Comcast (USA)
Dear Comcast High-Speed Internet Subscriber:
Comcast has received a notification by a copyright owner, or its authorized agent, reporting an alleged infringement of one or more copyrighted works made on or over Comcast’s High-Speed Internet service (the ‘Service’). The copyright owner has identified the Internet Protocol (‘IP’) address associated with your Service account at the time as the source of the infringing works. The works identified by the copyright owner in its notification are listed below. Comcast reminds you that use of the Service (or any part of the Service) in any manner that constitutes an infringement of any copyrighted work is a violation of Comcast’s Acceptable Use Policy and may result in the suspension or termination of your Service account.
Attachment:
[ Source: aldraek on AnimeSuki ]
The introductory paragraph which identifies BayTSP and Odex/AVPAS was removed from e-mails forwarded by Comcast. But since all three evidential BitTorrent logs share the exact same formatting, there’s not much room for doubt. They were all sent by BayTSP.
Comcast is known for actively interfering with BitTorrent packets on top of throttling, so they are probably overjoyed by this development. Bastards.
Does anyone know if Odex won its case against Pacific Internet? Judging by this latest bold move, I would guess that it did. But still, does anyone have confirmations?
Is this the beginning of the end of fansubbing? Will Odex succeed? Can they handle the backlash that is on its way? And is the cake really a lie? Find out in the next episode!
UPDATE: By the way, the Wikipedia article is outdated. The hearing for Odex vs PacNet was indeed postponed by the judge, but the rescheduled hearing took place three days ago on the 16th. You can read the court document in PDF. (Scroll down to page 19.)
I believe that the timing of this can’t possibly be a coincidence. So, once again, does anyone know what the ruling was?
maybe, just maybe… we can team up and hammer their websites, massive spam their forums, or maybe terror his (sing) home address with death (fake) threat?
i think, I’m gonna start team up with you guys XEDO haters and urge people to POD’s (Ping of Death) or Access Diver their websites as daily basis… or, maybe you singaporeans can start sending fake dead thread mail (real-life mail) or throw fireworks at sing’s house.
or, we can put daily prank on these address?
HO KAM HAR (200,000 SGD shares)
10 PEIRCE HILL
SINGAPORE (248566)
PETER HO GO WEI (799,999 SGD shares)
11 ARDMORE PARK
#20-03
ARDMORE PARK
SINGAPORE (259957)
SING XIN YANG (1 SGD shares)
S7237725G
292 BISHAN STREET 22
#20-71
SINGAPORE (570292)
I’m scared nii-san.
I don’t see how ODEX have the rights to sue people in other countries since they are not the licensor in these countries.
Lawliet:
The Japanese right holders have the right to take actions against copyright infringers in other countries. This is guaranteed by international treaties.
Therefore, by proxy, Odex can do the same if it has the specific consent of the Japanese right holders.
And it is highly likely that Odex does in fact have their blessings. Though with its penchant for secrecy, it’s hard to say for sure.
No one supported odex because of Low quality, bad subs…
not because people aren’t willing to pay….(though there is some …)
If Odex’s really authorised by the Japan anime companies, I seriously don’t see why these Japanese companies are putting so much trust into Odex. I’m sure these japanese companies earn a lot more licensing their anime to the american counterparts, so why not take action against downloaders through them (who have a wider reach)? Don’t they already see that the way Odex’s handling matters in this saga can be quite stupid at times?
And on Odex’s side, why is our Singaporean company doing so much internationally. Furthermore for free? (I don’t see what benefits they can get, other than publicity, in a negative manner) And I’m sure they already know what kind of negative impact it could generate for the company from the local backlash so far.
When will this whole crap ever end?
forceflow:
“Thanks to mainstream media bias against copy-infringement, the layman singaporean will have either have an ‘ok what’ idea of Odex or a ’simi taiji’ attitude to the whole issue.”
Considering that most software used at home in Singapore has been pirated for years, I daresay the mainstream media doesn’t have much of a hold on the concept of copy-infrigement. Though of course, like the Americans and the British, they might try to connect any form of filesharing to child porn.
Odex has just shot themselves with the biggest bullet yet. There are two ways they can try to explain themselves out of this, and both end up badly for them:
1. They say “Yes, we did intend to send letters worldwide”. Of course, our copyright laws don’t apply to other countries, and they’ll be screwed over for being busybodies.
2. They say “No, we didn’t intend to send letters worldwide”. This means that BayTSP’s IP investigatives methods are flawed, thereby casting doubt on all the settlements and customer information they demanded for.
Nice job, you guys; saves us the trouble of having to put you out of your misery ourselves.
SMSed peter of odex today about this matter and his response is this
“Thank you for telling me, i was aware of it yesterday and the problem is fixed” quote Peter Go
And the problem he is referring to, is “misfiring of ur(odex’s) warning email” by baytsp “to others around the world” Quoting my own SMS
lol.
Unless something drastic happens, it seems funny this was a mistake, but I can’t help wonder, who’s to say this won’t happen again? Even if it was a mistake, baytsp was successful in targeting everyone around the world and putting a scare in everyone’s heart given the responses in every anime-related area. Even if odex fixes their mistake and retargets only singapore downloaders, who’s to say another company won’t fill in their shoes and officially do it worldwide?
@tueac
What?!! you mean its all a ‘misfiring!!! I pity those guys who did what the letters told them to do.
Forceflow: yea, thats what most of them will say :P a typical singaporean will eat what the media feeds him/her.
The media can say: Oh Person A is bad, everyone will agree without thinking.
lol. But personally, I feel a bit disappointed. If the threats were genuinely targeted at international downloaders, Odex might have been nailed down.
Misfiring could also mean “Shit! We sent out the wrong letter, that had our name on it!”
Problem being fixed would then mean that they had sent out the right letter that doesn’t include the word “Odex” in it.
How about some archery, people?
I need to attend trainings more often instead of holing up at home going crazy over Ayako-sama’s voice in Sky Girls. XD
Whatever the outcome, how about diversifying our time use? I’d say that it’s a good time to start thinking of the future. Perhaps even studying a little more’s a decent option, no?
OMG even Gundam 00 is being traced? WHAT THE F***???
Darko is it still safe to watch Gundam 00?
Bastards.
I hope, really hope, that someone gets annoyed enough to do something permanant- Unfortunately, given how anime fans are largely normal people, it’s unlikely that it’ll happen. Oh, well…I’ll just resign myself to praying religiously for them to catch painful and fatal cancers- It has to work sometime! ^_^
It just shows that the technology and methodology used isn’t that reliable, or accurate, to be claiming around $3-$5k for.
IP harvesting ftw, maybe even I could set up XEDO Int. Ltd to send DMCA notices to Japan.
Canada has also gotten fried, check out the ASuki thread, page 15.
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Aww, and here I was expecting a big show.
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@manga: “Frankly speaking, I´m afraid, not for being sued but the way things are moving now feels like heading towards the ultra-controlled-big-brother-sees-you society that just doesn’t work in reality.”
Sometimes I get the impression that politicians just need to loudly shout “Terrorism!” to get any law passed. It looks like the general public and the mass media really is that dumb. -_-”
@zs: Of course there are these kind of logs, until they get deleted after a few days. The ISPs over here usually collect this data only for accounting reasons and they don’t need this data if the customer has an internet flat rate. Most internet users over here do have a flat rate, therefore their logs will be deleted in a matter of weeks (or even days).
Good providers won’t easily give away these logs anyway. Odex is not the police and not the prosecution authority, therefore the ISP may or may not give them the log. They usually won’t give it to them, unless there is a law that forces them to do so. The reasoning behind this decision is pretty simple:
suspected person = paying customer
Odex/copyright holder = annoying third party
Once again I’m not sure how this is handled in other countries.
@DarkMirage: True, but they would have to check the laws of every country closely and not just the copyright laws.
e. g.: If they would really go as far as to sue the suspected person they have to be sure that they can easily get a hold on evidence. If the ISP doesn’t have to cooperate they usually won’t cooperate because they don’t want to upset their paying customers. Also there may be things like bagatelle clauses in the local laws or formalities they have to consider etc.
Well, show’s over anyway. :)
correction: “I hope that the swedish government DO NOT get hold of this…”
Man, must have been more tired than I knew to miss such an important thing.
@ Fabian: I´d rather say that the media is just out for making money and what´s better to have? People who think for themselves or people who take the media seriously in everything? The best moneymaking stuff is the people who don´t think and take the media dead seriously.
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This may be a bit off topic, but I think “Godwin’s Law be damned” would make a great bumper sticker.
… wow… a small mistake which probably caused foreigners in distant lands to pee in their pants….. O_o
… at least those letters didn’t ask them to go to Odex headquarters, or those foreigners would be on planes coming to Singapore XD
….
Wait… Imagine if Odex request them to come to hq, I wonder how many new “tourists” Singapore will gain =D
ODEX and BayTSP have dishonored the Japanese and the Japanese Anime Companys they claim to represent bringing much SHAME to Japan, the Japanese Anime Companies and, their Japanese employees. This much SHAME for the Japanese involved in the Anime business will be hard to live down. The is a big loss of FACE for the Japanese, Japanese Anime Companies and Japanese people working for them.
I have no SHAME or anything to be ashamed of.
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@manga: “I´d rather say that the media is just out for making money and what´s better to have? People who think for themselves or people who take the media seriously in everything? The best moneymaking stuff is the people who don´t think and take the media dead seriously.”
It’s too bad that this kind of people are the majority. I guess we have to distinguish between the internet crowd and “normal” people. I’ve the impression that there are (proportionally) far more people questioning the things they see in the news in the internet crowd, than there are in the “normal” crowd. The latter are still the majority.
I’m also not so sure if the so-called independent media really is that independent. Over here the government hardly censors newspapers and TV news, but I’m quite sure that corporate censorship does happen. Companies paying for a lot of ads can easily get an editor or reporter fired, if he writes something they don’t like or if he voices an inconvenient opinion.
This is one of the reasons why it’s great that blogs like this exist. The mainstream media just don’t have the variety of opinions that the blogosphere has.
Argh.., I always type meido when I want to type media. -_-”
Regarding the Odex employee DM, is he a reliable source?
Actually I would prefer if the information came from the bosses themselves.
Right now, I think I will just trust the employee and hopefully I won’t get a dinner f*** for my next watching of Gundam 00.
Thing is…did ODEX licensed Gundam 00? It wasn’t stated in the AVPAS website :S(I remember ODEX is still trying to get the rights to it)
LOL, and here i was thinking that perhaps BayTSP had some measure of professionalism…
Lol, can’t wait to see ODEX filling lawsuits against people in Czech republic ^____^ You’d better pay some good translators and get ready for several years of postponing, rescheduling and appeals to higher instances … :)
Damn that ODEX, not only on Singapore, on my country (VERY)hate them too….
Oh wait guys, i think for you guys, to those whom getting a lawsuit against XEDO, there’s a “FINAL OPTION” before you get fines. if you really hate XEDO and think that you can get anime later, or if you really had a good friends.
This is kinda tricky, but hey… we’ll get to see XEDO suited you for an empty evidence, is it funny enough?
here, take a lookie here:
http://dban.sourceforge.net/
That program should wipe out your entire HDD of by destroying the MBTR of the HDD. put all of your anime inside one HDD and enjoy your anime before XEDO e-mailed you. then… if you get “teh e-mail”, use that program. wait a few while before XEDO put you in the court, or you can simply taunt them by replying the e-mail with an “F” word or something else.
what next? XEDO should put you in court. then, they’ll raid your home for an evidence. they should see your computer, and… NOTHING! they’ll be fine for a character flaw (you in this case..) and they’ll be charged with any sum amount of money of your like (and to pay for your lawyer too!). then they’ll gone. nothing happen. Voala.
now? your anime is gone. but dont worry, there’s should be a lot of data recovery service from your countries. like seagate recovery center or something else… or, you can put all your collection in one place (like DVD or something else) and throw them where they cant find them. like your another otaku’s house for example? beneath a rock in a bay? be creative.
Hm are you sure it’s a mistake? Well I guess it would make sense, since Odex was sueing for alleged loss of profits due to anime downloads, and no such loss of profits can come from people in other countries downloading titles that they don’t even provide in their own country…
Yeah… Since when was Gundam 00 licensed?
Well, I guess this might be the beginning of the end for all casual anime viewers.
I just love walking into Comics Connection and seeing the huge stacks of Xedo anime VCDs on the shelves. No one seems to be buying them and I hope no one in future ever will.
Down with Xedo and down with oppression.
Free Burma!
This is comedy gold.
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Guess what. Pg4 of the New paper Wednesday. Odex sent the letters by mistake, XD Apparently it was meant only for Singapore.
Someone somewhere is going to have to pay for the postage and processin off all these non SIngapore notices that got mailed. ODES may just get stuck with the bill.
LIke I said before this bring MUCH SHAME and DISHONOR to JAPANESE ANIME COMPANIES and their JAPANESE EMPLOYEES. Perhaps they need to rethink their relations with ODEX.
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The notices were all sent through e-mail..
Everyone is going ‘wtf’ on a global scale.
One word “FAIL”.
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1 Word “PITY”
Clap clap. Great job Odex. You’re now screwing yourself up globally.