What a bloody shame.

[00:42] <tj_han> btw drm
[00:42] <tj_han> have u heard
[00:42] <tj_han> that ODEX is working with IPOS to catch anime downloaders here.
[00:42] <tj_han> rumours from shia
[00:43] <DrmChsr0> Well, isn’t that a bloody shame.
[00:43] <DrmChsr0> ODEX don’t even release their licenses publicly.

You heard that right, people living in Singapore. ODEX and IPOS are working together to put ‘Internet Pirates’ to jail, where they will receive buttsechz until their rectums runneth over with poop.

To be honest, I have a small problem with that. Never mind the lousy subtitling and low quality, it’s the fact they don’t even care to release their licenses publicly. Honestly, it saves us a lot of paperwork, time and neurons fretting over when the hell are we going to receive subopenas. And with the tough-as-nails approach to ‘intellectual property theft’ from IPOS, well, hot damn. This ain’t no politickal mouthpiece. (I could rant about the uselessness of current copyright laws, but that would be moving to politics and I don’t want to be on a government blacklist for being a subversive. I’m harmless, dammit.)

Even though I have have said support the industry when you can, when the industry wants to hit back with something frivolous as this, I can’t help but think, “Am I doing the right thing by telling the people to support the industry whenever they can, or am I going to be arrested just because I said those words?” Bah, getting sued ruins people’s day.

And if ODEX were to pull something like that off, well, here’s a bit of advice to you ODEX people, should you read me blog. If you sue any of us, you will DIE. Lawsuits cost money, and I don’t care how much you people make or lose, but go on the legal warpath and you kill off all your profits, savings and whatnot. You are not some big company with Government investment(hazy on that one), you’re still a small or a medium-sized company. So what if you’ve got a monopoly in the market? If your products don’t make it off the shelves, you ain’t making money. Also, read THIS. Especially this part:

FOR THE COMPANIES:

Announce your licenses well ahead of time and LOUDLY, so that fans can pull the subs before your lawyers get to them. They really do want to help, and almost everyone will be happy to pull something you’ve licensed, but a cease & desist order just brings a fansubber’s whole day down… and their opinion of you with it. Put some work into your product. It’s very obvious when a company doesn’t really care about a project, because the work is usually very sloppy. Subtitled versions usually suffer quite a bit. Viz’s subtitled version of Key the Metal Idol, for example, was simply pathetic. There is no excuse for a commercial product that does not look as good as a fansub– PERIOD. Why would someone want to replace something they have with something inferior? If fans rave about a particular fan translation, contact the fansubber and offer to repay them for their translation costs for the use of their script (but have someone check it first). DVD releases help a lot too… I admit that I would probably wince at replacing all 52 episodes of Fushigi Yuugi with VHS copies, but DVD? I’m sold…

It doesn’t matter whether the video quality sucks. Heck, I don’t care if it’s dubbed either. As long as I feel that the company is putting in an effort(read: respect the material) to subtitle anime and such, I’d gladly fork over my Yusof Ishaks. And from what I see, ODEX doesn’t even give a damn. If you’re not going to give a damn, then why the fuck are you doing this?

WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU TRYING TO FUCK OVER YOUR CONSUMER BASE IF YOU DON’T FUCKING CARE? PULL THE FUCK OUT IF YOU DON’T CARE ABOUT ANYTHING OTHER THAN YOUR PROFIT MARGIN. IF YOU DON’T CARE ABOUT THE CONSUMERS, FUCK YOU AND THE MORAL HIGH HORSE YOU RODE ON IN.

It has happened to 4kids(Bad handling of source material, blahblahblah), and I predict the same will happen to ODEX if they continue on this futile route.

Blue Max, on the other hand, makes a half-hearted effort. It isn’t enough, but at least you can feel it.

Sure is hard to be an anime fan today. With lawsuits, haughty bastards and whatnot.