Odex goes International!
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)
株式会社 ＵＳＥＮ
いつも「GyaO 光」をご利用いただき、誠にありがとうございます。
この度外部より、「221.251.XXX.XXX」のIPアドレスにて各企業・個人が著作権 を有するデータを公開しているとのご連絡を受けております。弊社にて確認させて頂きましたところ、「ＰＩＮＡＮＳＫＹＳＡＭＵＥＬ」様のご利用の環境から送信された事が判明致しました。
著作者に無断で複製・記載・加工・使用等をする行為は、著作権の侵害にあたります。弊社約款上、「 当社もしくは他人の知的財産所有権（特許権、実用新案、著作権、意匠権、商標権等）その他の権利を侵害する行為または侵害する恐れのある行為（著作権侵害防止のための技術的保護手段を回避するための情報、機器またはソフトウェア等を流通させる行為を含みます。）」は禁止とさせて頂いており（第29条－(5)－ア）、規約違反行為に関しましては利用停止とさせて頂く場合もございます。
今後とも該当する行為が継続された場合、他のお客様や外部のネットワークに対して迷惑がかかりますため、早急な対応を必要としております。
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: 221×251xXXXxXXX.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?
November 20th, 2007 at 8:25 am
IP-address? Since when does an IP-address prove anything?
1) In Europe most of the IP-addresses are dynamic, therefore it changes every time you dial in. (I don’t know if it’s the same with most Japanese and American providers.)
2) The IP-address doesn’t show the person using the computer.
3) It just takes a little mistake on part of the provider (misconfigured switch) and the IP shown is not yours.
So how on earth do they want to prove that the person receiving their letter/e-mail actually downloaded the stuff? This sh*t doesn’t proof anything.
Also, isn’t it a little bit snotty of them to think that their laws apply to everywhere else? US copyright laws don’t apply to everywhere else, German copyright laws don’t apply to everywhere else and Singaporean copyright laws don’t apply to everywhere else either. If I do something that is perfectly legal where I life, but would get me hanged in (e. g.) Iran, so what? It’s not like I can be prosecuted for that, because this is not Iran. It’s the same thing with copyright laws (different countries -> different laws).
That’s the reason why the RIAA and the MPAA can’t do anything against the Swedish BitTorrent tracker ‘The Pirate Bay’, the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) just doesn’t apply to Sweden.
That said, I just hope no one buys their crap. No one should financially support their school bully behaviour.
no cash -> no stupid copyright enforcement campaigns
November 20th, 2007 at 9:14 am
Shinn Agami@ For now, it might be even much safer downloading hentai than to download decent animes…
November 20th, 2007 at 10:11 am
well, they confiscated some servers from Pirate Bay, it didn´t help much…
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.
I just hope the stupid swedish government get´s a hold of this, then they´ll happily succumb to this idiocy and then hell will go out of busniess, not because to few souls are sent there but rather there won´t be enough place for everyone…
And when does fiction get reality? It seems to be that sooner or later there will be a V for Vendetta setting in real life. And it´s just closing in on everyone :(
And if something doesn´t sound right, I have to blame it on that it´s 3:11 AM here in sweden and I should have been in bed a long time ago.
November 20th, 2007 at 10:20 am
IPs may be dynamically assigned, I believe there are logs that are kept that show who was using which IP at the point in time, where they can refer back to when they catch hold of an IP.
And Fabian, the IP address in itself is actually a very weak case. What they`re doing is just to throw some legal looking letter, along with whatever little bits of evidence they have to scare you into thinking that you`d get your ass busted because they have lawyers and evidence, then you`d pay whatever renumerations they`d ask for.
I believe it`s been said before, but catching your IP on a torrent tracker is the equivalent of saying that you`ve robbed a convenient store because they saw you enter the store on the day itself, or because your name was planted at the scene of crime.
I`ve read up an article where this guy managed to get his name on a tracker without even using a BitTorrent client[something about the protocol being HTTP, so all he needed to do was to put the address of a tracker into his internet browser].
November 20th, 2007 at 10:38 am
Beowulf Lee:
I think that’s a guy…
Fabian:
Singapore copyright laws may not apply to you, but German copyright laws do. Odex can take legal actions against infringers under the laws of their own country.
November 20th, 2007 at 10:58 am
just so you guys know, they’re hated by the general population in sunny singapore :)
November 20th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
OH SHI- Wait… well, you can’t really tell from that picture.
You know, looking at how retarded the MPAA is, I highly doubt this will actually do anything. The only result I can think of would be giving Singapore in general a bad name amongst international anime fans (even though you guys hate them the most).
November 20th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
Leon: not really.
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.
November 20th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
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)
November 20th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
I’m scared nii-san.
November 20th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
I don’t see how ODEX have the rights to sue people in other countries since they are not the licensor in these countries.
November 20th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
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.
November 20th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
No one supported odex because of Low quality, bad subs…
not because people aren’t willing to pay….(though there is some …)
November 20th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
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?
November 20th, 2007 at 1:52 pm
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.
November 20th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
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.
November 20th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
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
November 20th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
lol.
November 20th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
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?
November 20th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
@tueac
What?!! you mean its all a ‘misfiring!!! I pity those guys who did what the letters told them to do.