A man (34) has been sentenced to one and a half years of hard labour for the wicked crime of distributing anime online over dying P2P network Share, in what were the first arrests for Share use. The judge presiding, displaying an admirable understanding of the economics of intangible “property”, admonished him thus “It was like you were distributing bread you’d shoplifted from supermarket shelves”.
In their “Intellectual Property Strategic Program 2008”, the Japanese government proposes measures for curbing the unauthorised online sharing and distribution of anime and manga, in what could very well turn out to be an assault on fansubbing and the sharing of anime and other Japanese cultural products.
NHK, one of Japan’s larger TV networks, seem determined to stop unauthorised online distribution of their broadcasting, and to this end have announced digital fingerprinting technology intended to thoroughly curb the practice, though it seems it will be limited to their upcoming download service.
Asahi reports that a Tokyo area student has been arrested on suspicion of unauthorised copying of Elf All-stars Strip Mahjong 3 (the ignominy – not even arrested over a decent game), amongst many others, but ardent P2P users can, for once, relax as this idiot was not arrested over P2P usage, as other unfortunates have been lately, but for loading the games (some 180, it is claimed) onto HDD and selling them in online auctions.
Apparently he managed a modest profit, selling a hundred drives over a year, and netting himself ¥3,000,000 (for study expenses, he pleas), though as you can see, the risk/reward ratio ultimately was hardly favourable. It seems he downloaded the software from a Chinese P2P service, presumably a torrent forum.
It is being reported that three arrests have been made by Kyoto police for unauthorised distribution of copyrighted material (Gundam anime is mentioned) using anonymous P2P network Share, abortive successor to Winny, and these are the first arrests for using this network. Such reports do deserve critical reception, however, as they are inevitably presented such as to further the interests of law enforcement and copyright concerns, so some more careful analysis is required.
Anyone familiar with the file sharing networks peculiar to Japan will know Winny has long formed the mainstay, especially with successor Share having had development abandoned. However, Winny has fallen on hard times lately, and it may not be overstating the case to say that it is finally about to fade into irrelevance.
