Torrenting Warning Notices a Mistake

by Crisu
Nov 22, 2007 11:38 PM | 17 Comments

If you heard last week, various users who had Comcast as their ISP received notices of copyright infringment for torrenting unlicensed anime.

An administrator for the AnimeSuki website of anime BitTorrent links reported that users received a "Notice of Claim of Copyright Infringement" from their Internet service providers late last week for distribution of anime without an announced license from a North American company.

It confused many, but some thought it was related to a recent request by the Japanese government.

The Japanese government issued a formal statement of requests to the government of the United States on regulatory reform and market competition policy on October 18, and included a request for the United States to help stop the unauthorized reproduction and distribution of Japanese animation online.

However, the real sender of the notices (a company affiliated with Comcast, I think) has admitted this was a mistake. Those notices were supposed to go to only Singapore, where a lot of anime distribution is considered highly illegal.

The American company BayTSP has acknowledged that it accidentally processed warning notices for allegedly unauthorized anime downloaders in France, Japan, and the United States last week.

So is this a huge 'oopsie'? Considering the huge gray area on the subject of anime legality on the Internet anyway, this isn't a mistake people will just forget about in a week.

Source: ANN ANN (2) ANN (3)

17 Comments Recent Comments

whoo, comcast fails. :>

no message for me!

Nov 24, 2007 12:11 PM by SY_IS_DEAD_IRL

Oh thank god. I got a warning for downloading DGrayman, which isn't licensed, so I was confused as hell. And scared. I mean, wtf? It was further confusing because of how many other episodes I had downloaded, and they only had a problem with one of them. Really odd, but this explains it.

YAY.

Nov 24, 2007 10:37 AM by Malyrush

rkrempel said:

You know, all this confuses me. Claims of copyright infringement for _downloading_ something? Surely that's nonsense squared. That means I'm "infringing" every time I turn on a TV or radio (wther I record it or not is irrelevant).

When you are notified you are infringing copyright, it's not normally because you downloaded it, but rather because you uploaded it back onto the Internet (that's the way most of the common anime fansub distribution methods work.) At this point, you are distributing it without permission. This is like 99% of the warnings you hear about. There are a few cases I've heard of (not anime-related) where a simple download with no upload (an http honeypot, for example) can trigger a warning, but they are much less common. Damages in court for downloading would be simple -- you downloaded one copy so you owe them whatever it's selling for. Damages for uploading are more complex, since they will claim that your uploading enabled further uploading ad infinitum, and that's how they get their damages into exorbitant amounts. That's why they go after uploaders first, as well as trying to cut the supply chain.

Nov 24, 2007 9:35 AM by Iri

YourMessageHere said:
I tell you, if this kind of shit ever reaches me, I'm going to court. Fuck their out-of-court settlement, it's just a back door cash machine for them. Whether they want $3000 out ...

You know, all this confuses me. Claims of copyright infringement for _downloading_ something? Surely that's nonsense squared. That means I'm "infringing" every time I turn on a TV or radio (wther I record it or not is irrelevant).

To my knowledge, governments in the "free world" aren't allowed to comment on what station their citzens tune into, or how they tune into it. I know things have gone a little downhill in the U.S. of late, but surely the concept of free press still exists?

Nov 24, 2007 9:10 AM by rkrempel

very well said @ YourMessage.. I agree with you

Nov 23, 2007 9:10 PM by _madlax_

i have comcast and i didnt seem to get one O_o but yeah thats a huge oops right there XD

Nov 23, 2007 4:22 PM by eppyomega

protoman96 said:

YourMessageHere said:
I tell you, if this kind of shit ever reaches me, I'm going to court. [...] I'd rather risk fighting and losing than give in - most of the entire world's anime localisation market (esp. outside the US) relies heavily on downloaders to create their audience for them, and they think it's somehow a good idea to sue them into oblivion as well as charge the prices they do.

so ... you're going to defend fansubbing to help save the companies suing you?

no judgment here, just using this as an example of how crazy our world is. ;)

I'm going to carry on downloading fansubs in lieu of being able to watch it on TV, burn them to disc in lieu of videotaping them, and buying the anime I really like on DVD, just as I do with TV and film, and I'll take life as it comes. Of course, I hope I'm never singled out by any firms, but if I am, if that's what it takes for them to realise how much they need us, and how little sense what they're doing actually makes, yes, that's what I'll do.

If the world wasn't this crazy, licensing companies would embrace the enthusiasm and skill of the fansubbing community and recognise the job it does in giving their products better marketing exposure than any advertising campaign ever could, and for no cost to them, instead of starkly representing it as theft, and I'd not have to think about doing this.

Nov 23, 2007 2:34 PM by YourMessageHere

so ... you're going to defend fansubbing to help save the companies suing you?

no judgment here, just using this as an example of how crazy our world is. ;)

Nov 23, 2007 12:42 PM by protoman96

row row fight the powa!?

Nov 23, 2007 12:34 PM by Happy

I tell you, if this kind of shit ever reaches me, I'm going to court. Fuck their out-of-court settlement, it's just a back door cash machine for them. Whether they want $3000 out of court or however much for court costs, I haven't got it. I never seem to hear a voice of reason speaking out in favour of downloading fansubs in court against these idiots, and should I be that unlucky, perhaps I'm being stupid but I'd rather risk fighting and losing than give in - most of the entire world's anime localisation market (esp. outside the US) relies heavily on downloaders to create their audience for them, and they think it's somehow a good idea to sue them into oblivion as well as charge the prices they do.

Nov 23, 2007 10:54 AM by YourMessageHere

Well Singapore has a high rate of downloading series that have been licensed in that area. So I kinda see the point and the why for it.

Nov 23, 2007 9:44 AM by Ajisaitea

D: i had a heart attack when i saw "torrenting warning". oh well, i have AT&T as my ISP so i never received one a notice but still...
poor singapore...

Nov 23, 2007 9:28 AM by Xjellocross

Oh my. o_o I would've been so terrified if I got one of those... I'd be in debt forever.

Nov 23, 2007 7:34 AM by atlantiza

I got a notice too.

Nov 23, 2007 4:56 AM by Stormy_77

I feel sorry for poor singapore =/

Nov 23, 2007 4:49 AM by Siing

I read the title and I won't even say what I said but that scared me for a second but I'm so glad that it was an oopsie.

Nov 23, 2007 12:47 AM by LovelongSought

I would say this is a huge "oopsie" in light of the recent requests by the Japanese Government. I myself got a notice. It will be interesting to observe the impacts this so-called "mistake" has. (^^)

Nov 22, 2007 11:52 PM by VTOtaku