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NEWS: Judge Compares Anime File-Sharing to Stealing Bread

Does mean Sunrise is Inspector Javert?

I think I remember a few years ago some judge tried to give the death sentence to someone who was stealing bread to feed his starving family....

Do the judges have such autocratic powers like this in Japan where the judges are allowed to decide what level of laws are applied to sentences based on what they feel, rather than following a strict doctrine of law that spells out what should and should not be done?

I think a more accurate comparison (involving bread) would include actually stealing bread/food from animators and their families, ne?

The Judge Satō then said that Maki's actions "were very similar to shoplifting large amounts of bread, and instead of eating it yourself, distributing it for free. You were only doing it for attention, instead of out of maliciousness."

But if he went and stole bread, and gave it to lots of hungry people that otherwise would have to wait for months or years before getting a now stale bread, he would be a folk hero. o.o

A more accurate analogy would be that he bought or was given a loaf of bread, and duplicated and distributed copies of this bread for free.

And if we throw the number '5000' in here, and mention some fish, then the whole analogy looks very different.

You know, because a fan is starved for entertainment and must feed it... It's a necessity to live you know!

There is no appropriate analogy because this event cannot exist outside of the digital realm. No one owns the rights to bread. You can't copyright a loaf of bread and we don't have a machine to duplicate it indefinitely. In fact, if this man was doing this with bread, he wouldn't be a hero. The genius who created the technology to duplicate the bread and share it would be a hero.

It would be appropriate to look at previous cases that involve, say, music file sharing in Japan. Which I haven't heard any references to yet.

Maybe a better analogy would be to compare it to stealing cable, or possibly more to the point, helping other people steal cable. The cable signal is still there, it's not gone like the bread would be, but you receive a service that you otherwise don't pay for.

A brief internet search on this topic revealed that the potential penalties for stealing cable are up to a year in jail and/or up to a $10,000 fine. This is in the U.S., mind you, but 1.5 years doesn't seem too far afield with that in mind.

This is not to say that I necessarily agree with the sentence. I think a fine might be more appropriate, or maybe they can disallow him internet access for some period of time, and then only use jail-time for the more severe cases. I couldn't really discern whether it was a single incident or if it was a pattern of sharing that he was prosecuted for, though the earlier article that was linked to indicates the latter.

I think I'll rename this thread "International Depository of Belabored Extended Metaphors".

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Forum - View topicNEWS: Judge Compares Anime File-Sharing to Stealing Bread

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NEWS: Judge Compares Anime File-Sharing to Stealing Bread