[EDMW ANALYSIS] On the topic of figures, forced charity & Japanese distro support

Originally posted by: jsbn

Well, look at it this way.

Odex throws up a figure of having like 400,000 downloaders for a population of 4mil.

Ok, give & take 50% discount off the 400,000 downloaders cos they say 1000 IP != 1000 people.

That leaves potentially 200,000 people open to future lawsuits like this. And on the assumption that they just simply charge like the minimum amount of $3K per downloader. They'll earn a whopping SGD$600,000,000!!!!!

Yes. A cool $600mil simply out of sueing downloaders and collecting $3K from them. All these simply by:
1) Getting an Internet Investigation Company
2) Pay lip service to the Japanese counterparts, buying, sitting on licenses, reselling licenses & doing a monopoly
3) Continual refusal to engage the community at large and wielding the moral sword callously

And on a sidenote:
- Where's the ethics & integrity besides upholding the law? The very skewered LoU simply leaves a lot to be desired. Its like paying $3K to stop just 1 company from sueing u and doesn't grant one immunity from the law or from any other unscrupulous companies who also have the right to access the information that Odex has and they have full rights over the information which can be literally 'sold' to anyone.

- 200,000 potential downloaders waiting to be sued. They aim to cut to approximately 80 to 90%. That leaves approximately 20,000 downloaders waiting to be sued thoroughly. On the assumption that these 20,000 downloaders get caught and fined for the minimum of $3K, Odex earns a cool SGD$60,000,000 in all simply by sueing just 20,000 'hardcore' downloaders.

- The issue of charity donation. This is in actual fact 'forced charity'. Charity shld be made from the heart, through the heart. Throwing a 'fine' of $3K in, after deducting all administration fees and figures audited, the remaining money goes to a charity? Now, on the assumption that the 20,000 'hardcore' downloaders get sued and they get a cool $60mil out of it. On the assumption that investigation costs rounds up to abt $30mil (using 50% out of original amount as a standard guideline), the remaining $30mil are to be 'forced donated to charity' when young working adults, parents who are footing the bill for the kids, teenagers who will need the remaining amount for whatever purpose are being 'forced to give to charity'?

What's the purpose for it? To lessen the 'sins' of the downloaders? To lessen the 'sins' of the company directors? Which goes (if one believes in the law of karma)?

- The Japanese distributors lending their support. In what ways do they benefit from? Personally, my analysis? None (probably unless there's an under table agreement which of cos, we'll leave it to the conspiracy theorists whatever crazy stuff they may think of).

First of all, the general view is to 'eliminate piracy' but at what cost? Killing both fans AND cheapskates in one fell swop? Our access to animes on TV on Arts Central are limited to that few, the rest are all released on VCD. The aim of collectors who purchase medias are that "The show's worth a rewatch. I shall buy the DVD/HD-DVD/Blu-Ray." To an average Singaporean anime collector, the purchase of a single media is all is required. He definitely doesn't need 1 media simply to preview the show (read: VCD) & 1 media for long term keeps.

With the extremely negative PR generated towards the company now who had effectively pissed customers and potential customers off with their strongarm tactics, its plain and simple that consumers are going to live out their life back to normal without anime. The ripple effect? Odex will not suffer since they can simply switch business. Other shops at Sunshine Plaza? One simple word - bad business.

- Creation of an anime utopia? With the now extremely negative publicity, its now clear that an 'all out war' is waged both on cheapskates AND the fans. When re-engagement with the community is now next to impossible due to raging fires, how could one create a utopia out of such a situation? A monopoly more likely.

- Twists & turns.
Lets get facts out right.

1) Odex claims that the 'settlement fees' are actually investigative charges for the downloaders (at the height of the RIAS action, we don't see RIAS actually making people PAY for investigative charges AND the Cease & Desist Letters right?)

2) The LoU does not, will not and will never grant immunity from the law (if AGC decided to sue). In addition the LoU would open up an extra avenue for unscrupulous companies to sue the downloader as the LoU gives Odex the right to simply sell or give away the information as and when they see fit or by orders of the court. The impact is far greater than just a simple signature & a "Ok! I wun sue u if u dun download!" by Odex. This the public MUST REALISE IT.

3) 'Extras after deduction of fees'. Is Odex 'fining' people more than expected? In the first place, its extremely strange that if the 'settlement costs' were to 'just cover investigative costs', where would the extras pop out? Why are there extras in the first place? Are the 'fines' excessive to the point where there are so much 'extras' for 'forced charity'?

4) Claims of finding an independent auditor hired. In the first place, all companies are required by law to have their figures audited. According to the information in ACRAS, Odex had already hired an auditor to check the figures. Isn't it moot point?

5) Correction after correction had been made by the company since the letter-shooting came up. Blaming downloaders for a reduction of 60% in sales, what are they doing prior to the letter-shooting? Now that they had shot the letters out, the 'war' had dragged on for a month, u suddenly see Odex so active in the following areas:
- Revamp website (when it was dead for well over 6mths prior)
- Near fanatic marketing of their products
- VOD sudden rollout WITHOUT ANNOUNCEMENTS & PLANNED MARKETING
- Press Conferences to clarify their stand after they had done all those above to prove that 'we are doing something'.

Sounds fishy? Personally, it simply smacks of damage control & lack of integrity. By finding a specific target to pin their blame on (ie, downloaders) and creating an extremely negative PR disaster is a surefire way of people to start boycotting their products and when their sales start dipping extremely low NOT because of the sole cause of downloads but in a way, due to the extremely bad publicity they had generated, they will have yet another excuse to start sueing people yet again and again and again. A vicious cycle had been set in motion.

My 2 cents on the entire saga up to this point. I hope it helps to put certain thing into proper perspective where contradictions and twists (if any) might be.

P/S: IF you guys think this is good analysis on the current situation on-hand as well as the potential fallout from the entire saga, just feel free to post it up on sgcafe or any other anime related forums

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In Parliament: government’s reply poorly reasoned, insulting

In Parliament: government’s reply poorly reasoned, insulting

Posted by theonlinecitizen on August 28th, 2007

By Choo Zheng Xi

The Worker’s Party MPs asked why their party was not allowed to hold a cycling event at East Coast Park as part of their 50th anniversary celebrations.

If Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs Ho Peng Kee’s answer is any indication, the rationale for the police denial of the permit is completely bankrupt of all good sense.

The recent ban was justified by Associate Professor Ho using the following reasons:

“It is an open area where there is potential for breach of peace, public disorder, and unruly behaviour.”

Later:

“You may be well behaving, but there may be other people whom you come across when you cycle who may stop you, may want to debate with you and that may attract a crowd, therefore will result in problems the police want to avoid”.

The Slippery Slope

It is puzzling why the police is giving the WP such a hard time registering their event considering a quick perusal of the Young PAP website will reveal numerous outdoor events: kayaking, an amazing race and they even had their own cycling event! (Click screenshot from YPAP website, left).

Looking at his comments we can tell he’s worried about people who will want to confront happy WP members on their cycling activity. Who might these be? Possibly overzealous partisans of the PAP. I hope he has more faith in his fellow party members: after all, the WP has set a good example by not harassing YPAP members on any of their numerous outdoor events.

Prof Ho’s comments seem hauntingly familiar. As I warned in an earlier article: beware the slippery slope! (link)

I’d now like to put the public on notice that Prof Ho has employed this line of argumentation, expecting it to stand despite being totally divorced from context. As the above example of the numerous YPAP events have shown, there is absolutely no reason to believe that riots will occur from recreational public events sponsored by political parties.

This is reminiscent of the now infamous Vivian Balakrishnan’s warning of what might happen if the government allowed bartop dancing (albeit in favour of liberalization). It is worth repeating here for comic value:

“If you want to dance, some of us will fall off that bar-top. Some people will die as a result of liberalising bar-top dancing, not just because they have fallen off the bar-top. Because usually a young girl, with a short skirt, dancing on a bar-top, may attract some insults from some other men, and the boyfriend starts fighting. Some people will die. Blood will be shed for liberalising this policy.”

Circularity and sarcasm

Associate Professor should know that repeating nonsense twice or three times does not make it any less nonsensical. When pressed for a proper answer regarding the ban, he replied in an insultingly sarcastic fashion:

“If you listened very carefully Mr Low, I don’t know whether his hearing aid is with him because he wears one, I said there is a greater potential for law and order problems”

Was Associate Professor Ho really being unparliamentarily sarcastic? One inclined to a more charitable interpretation of his comments could perhaps say that the source of his frustration really wasn’t directed at Mr Low. It might have been directed at the inanity of the policy he had to defend, knowing full well that it was a completely intellectually bankrupt argument.

More likely though, he was resorting to a well known tactic of gutter politics: if you say something often enough, and demean your opponent while you’re at it, there’s a good chance the electorate might believe you.

My message to the government is this: defend your laws on their own merit, and if there is none to speak of, bite the bullet and amend them. When you’re in a hole, stop digging.

It reeks of arrogance when someone who should be well versed in the law gives poorly reasoned responses to a simple question.

NSF had sex with underage girl

Aug 28, 2007
NSF had sex with underage girl

A YOUNG man on Tuesday pleaded guilty to having sex with an underage girl he had met while playing an online game two months before.
Chew Kai Jun, a 20-year-old full-time national serviceman, first chatted up the 14-year-old girl over the online game in the Guillemard Road area in April. The pair exchanged phone numbers.

A few days later, he called her and they told each other more about themselves.

This was followed by a few dates and kissing.

On June 14, Chew went along with the girl and her brother to their home after playing online games.

After the girl's brother went to bed at about 2am, Chew climbed into the upper bunk of the double-decker bed where the victim was and had sex with her.

The girl's father entered the room shortly after to tell her to take her shower. Suspecting something was up, he asked them what had happened.

They claimed Chew was looking for his ring.

When Chew left the room to smoke, the girl's father - unconvinced by the lost-ring explanation - asked the girl to throw back the blanket.

Not wearing her underwear then, she refused. She lied to her father that she was having her period and asked him to leave the room.

The father then questioned Chew, who admitted that he had sex with his daughter.

The father immediately told him to stay in the kitchen while he called the police.

But before the police turned up, Chew climbed out of the kitchen window of the 11th-floor flat and escaped.

A charge of trespassing into a neighbour's flat will be taken into consideration when he is sentenced on Sept 25.

District Judge Jill Tan called for a pre-sentence report in view of his age and clean record.

Odex affiliate raided for counterfeiting 8 years ago

Odex affiliate raided for counterfeiting 8 years ago

A ONE-TIME firm started by the men behind Odex, the company at the centre of a crackdown on illegal downloading of anime, was itself raided by police for copyright infringement.

The firm - Games Mart - was set up by Odex director Peter Go in 1994 to sell video game consoles, games and accessories.

An Odex spokeman said it was raided in 1999 by the police for peddling counterfeit game controllers and other accessories.

The spokesman said that Games Mart was shut down in 2004.

Boy's testicles stuck in pipe after fall

Boy's testicles stuck in pipe after fall


BUKIT MERTAJAM: A screaming 9-year-old was rushed to hospital with his testicles stuck in a metal pipe.
The boy had to endure the pain for almost 30 minutes before doctors operated on him and removed the pipe.

The incident happened at the boy’s home in Kampung Baru here at 10.15pm on Sunday.

It is learnt that the boy was having a bath when his younger brother called out to him from an adjacent room.

He climbed up the bathroom partition to see why his brother was making a ruckus when he slipped and landed on an uncovered metal pipe which runs into the concrete water tank.
His father, 50, rushed into the bathroom and was shocked to see his son lying on the floor with his testicles stuck in the pipe.

Medical staff who responded to the emergency call were forced to call firemen for help when they too failed to remove the pipe.

Bukit Mertajam fire officer Rohana Mustafa said they had to use a hydraulic cutter to cut both ends of the pipe.

The boy was then rushed to the Seberang Jaya Hospital with his testicles still caught in the L-shaped pipe.

He underwent a 30-minute operation and was discharged from the hospital at noon yesterday.

SingNet: We did not 'consent' to Odex

Aug 28, 2007

SingNet: We did not 'consent' to Odex

SINGNET has clarified that it did not 'consent' to demands by Odex to hand over details about subscribers allegedly downloading pirated Japanese cartoons, called anime.

The Internet service provider (ISP), which is being slammed online for its apparent capitulation in the controversial case, says in no way did it help Odex's application.

SingNet spokesman Chia Boon Chong said, 'We reject all requests from third parties for information pertaining to our customers. We will release such information only under a court order or if the law enforcement and regulatory agencies demand such information from us.'

In Odex's case, as it does in all such cases, he said, the firm would 'entrust the courts to apply the law and make a ruling'.

The Telecommunications Competition Code prohibits ISPs from disclosing subscriber information without a court order, and a spokesman for the Infocomm Development Authority said SingNet had not breached the code.

Odex won court orders earlier this year to get SingNet and StarHub to disclose names of subscribers allegedly downloading anime.

When Odex failed to obtain a similar order against Pacific Internet (PacNet) last Thursday, people began wondering why.

Online attacks against SingNet intensified after District Judge Ernest Lau published in his written judgement that 'for the SingNet case, the orders were made by consent'. He also said that SingNet did not even appear in court. Different judges had ruled in all three cases.

Many people, including corporate counsel and Nominated Member of Parliament Siew Kum Hong, interpreted this to mean that SingNet had agreed to Odex's application, thus expediting it.

Online users thus felt SingNet had betrayed them, and this probably fuelled the online outrage against the ISP, said Mr Siew, who maintains a well-read blog.

Read the full report in Wednesday's edition of The Straits Times.

Singapore Police Reject Permit For Opposition Party's Cycling Event

August 27, 2007 20:06 PM

Singapore Police Reject Permit For Opposition Party's Cycling Event

By Jackson Sawatan

SINGAPORE, Aug 27 (Bernama) -- Plans by Singapore's main opposition party, the Workers' Party, to hold a cycling event in conjunction with its 50th anniversary, hit a dead end after its application for a police permit was rejected.

The mass cycling event was to be held on Sept 9 at the East Coast Park, a popular beachside park located along the east coast highway here.

Party chairman Sylvia Lim raised a question over the issue in Parliament today and was told that such activities "have the potential for public disorder and mischief, and may disrupt community life."

"Police requirement is that such party activities be held indoors or within stadiums, so that any law and order problems will be contained. This policy applies to all political parties," Senior Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs Ho Peng Kee said in reply to Lim's question.

Ho said the East Coast Park was a recreational park for Singaporeans and their families and not meant to be used by a political party to promote its cause.

The Workers' Party was set up in 1957 by David Marshall, the first chief minister of Singapore.

It has two representatives in the Singapore parliament, namely its secretary-general, Low Thia Khiang who is MP for Hougang and Lim as the non-constituency member of parliament (NCMP).

NCMPs are appointed from among the best performing opposition losers in a general election.

-- BERNAMA