Forum - View topicINTEREST: Japanese Government Enlists Pirate Hunter to Track Down Illegal Streams, Downloads
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DmonHiro
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You guys do realize that his "pirate hunter" is just some guy who will check illegal streaming sites for anime, right? This is more of a publicity stunt, kind of like "Yeah, we're doing something" thing. This will have almost zero impact on actual piracy, since, for example, torrenting will not be a part of this "hunt".
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SWAnimefan
Posts: 634 |
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I don't blame the Japanese in going after pirates, but they aren't really addressing the elephant in the room when it comes why there is piracy. And it would be good if ANN or other Anime organizations would research this to get accurate results.
In my experience you got: 1) The True Thief: who takes it because it's free. 2) The Advantageous: Those who take the illegal and turn it into profit. 3) The Unabled: Those who DO NOT have access to Legal Anime or Manga. 4) The Poor Fan: Those who want to buy legal anime, but don't have the means. 5) The Unwaiting: Those who don't want to wait for the legal release (mostly manga). 6) The Unfortunate: Those who are unable to buy the limited releases (for instance, OVAs). 7) The Collector: Fans who don't have access or missing certain aspects of their fandom that's not widely available. I'm sure I'm missing one or two, but in my experience, these are the types that use illegal downloads. Mind you, I'm not implying that the Japanese are sitting on their hands. Because some businesses have gotten proactive with getting international streaming like Netflix and Crunchyroll, and of course streaming from their license holders (mainly Funimation). So that's a good start, but it's not enough. Because how many series ends up "under the radar" of series we would never see published in our countries. And as much as I hate to say it, but that's the good side of piracy. Another nice thing about piracy sites, is that some series end up rediscovered with a new generation, and that sparks that interest that could get sales moving again for tha series. If the Japanese wants to end piracy, instead of closing their doors, they should open them! Stream their own anime! Sell digital downloads of their series worldwide at an affordable cost. (A few years ago, Viz sold legal digital downloads of Naruto and Bleach for under $2 per episode!) If they did this, they would be eliminating a massive chunk of illegal activity. At the same time increasing their profit by opening new customers to their series. Win / Win. |
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crosswithyou
 Posts: 2894 Location: California |
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Don't forget "The Sampler: Those who watch illegally to decide whether or not they want to purchase the series legally." Anyway, I think the thing for Japanese companies is that not only would they need to make the content available, but they would need to make it available with English subtitles. It won't be good enough if they just make series available for free since people overseas would not be able to understand it unless it's subtitled. That adds to the costs of providing legal alternatives. In the end I don't think there's a simple solution to this issue. |
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0nsen
 Posts: 256 |
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That's all fine and dandy, but as long as the free stuff isn't only free, but also more convenient and most important of all of a vast superior quality this won't really accomplish anything. I tried watching some HD stuff (1080p) from CR one time (2015), because I couldn't wait for the BDs. And god was that quality awful. It was barely watchable. Once you've tasted true quality you can't even go back to HD-Streams. On the bright site, once you are at that point you won't mind importing the Japanese BDs of shows you really like at horrendous prices. Because the rest just won't cut it.
So I for one don't really see the point in streaming, if the quality stays that bad. I'm eagerly anticipating 4K, though. Hopefully they come up with bigger screens by then. Preferably something between 120″ and 180″. |
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Lord Dcast
 Posts: 644 Location: 'Straiya |
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Even if that's the case, for both Americans and Australians (like myself), the content should not be taken down. The videos may be blocked in Japan, however deciding what gets shown to other countries is not in their power. America has the Digital Millenium act and Australia has the Fair Dealings act (which I have read, hell I even have a copy saved on the computer). Therefore fair use exists for these two countries, and Japan has no right to take down the videos completely. |
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leafy sea dragon
 Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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Is that what they intend to do? Remove the videos completely?
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sunflower
 Posts: 1080 |
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I'm not gong to quote the whole comment because it's so long so I picked the shortest point. 
But these are all the arguments I heard against CR being a successful business model back when it was just starting out. It's been proven time and again that if you give people legal alternatives that give them timely airings of a decent quality, they *will* pay. I downloaded everything before Crunchyroll. Now I pay for CR and Funi and Hulu and haven't downloaded an anime in years. I downloaded Game of Thrones because I don't have cable, then HBO NOW showed up and I buy it just to watch one show. People *want* legal alternatives. Heck, it's far easier than trying to download things. And I know I'm supporting those who create things I love. There are always outliers, but CR is getting those 800,000 subscribers from somewhere. |
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DmonHiro
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I am so tired of hearing this "fact". 1st, no, not everyone wants legal alternatives, but I won't get into that. 2nd, downloading anime takes one click to open a site, one string to seach what you want, one click to download and one more click to open it. That's 3 clicks and one string. Streaming crom CR, for example, takes one click to open CR, one string to search the anime, one click to select the episode and one more click to play it. That's also 3 clicks and one string. OK, depending on your configuration, you may need 4 clicks to download. But downlaoding may give you better quality, no buffering, no ads and you get to keep it. I'm not advocating illegal downloads, but I'm just sick of people saying that legal streaming is easier. |
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#Immie93
Posts: 54 |
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It's tough because of anime's limited market in countries outside of Japan. Anime is going from mainstream in Japan to the minority elsewhere and that's where illegal streaming surfaces because the likes of Sentai/Funi don't license everything and then sometimes I don't get the privilege of seeing a lot of those shows they get because I live in the UK and have to wait for Anime limited, MVM or MangaUK to license and distribute the shows.
I do have Netflix but their library is limited. If there's something I want to watch I do sometimes have to look to streaming sites, like OVA's because there's no market here for them. In most instances I'm watching a show to see if it's worth buying on DVD and in most cases it is, as long as it's available or will be available in the UK. So I'm trying to help benefit anime but if you take KyoAni's "Hyouka" which I love to pieces and want to own it on DVD I can't because it's not available anywhere except free streaming. |
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sunflower
Posts: 1080 |
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Just because you put it in quotes doesn't make it less a fact. The numbers have shown it to be true. I'm pretty practiced at downloading. Your "clicks" assume everything works correctly. How many times have you been stuck without a seed or because episodes have been removed? How many times have you searched for back episodes to find half of them missing? How many times have you downloaded something to find its a fake? Downloading one perfectly set up episode is easy. But finding every episode of a series that's up on Hulu or CR anyway? That's generally a waste of time. And then, with the weird codecs that some fan subbers like to use these days so some mkvs don't play across my TV through any of my 3 set top boxes so I have to sit and watch it on a laptop or PC? If I stream legally I don't have to worry about any of this. |
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jojothepunisher
 Posts: 799 |
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The country of the samurai will NEVER give up against their enemy. Now I am curious of what they mean by specialists. Are they going to hire hikikomori who knows the ins and outs of the internet? What kind of qualifications do they need to have to get hired? Pretty interesting stuff I say.
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Brent Allison
 Posts: 2444 Location: Athens-Clarke County, GA, USA |
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When they sung "Happy Birthday" to you at parties before 2015, did you demand your friends and acquaintances send a remittance to the estate of Patty and Mildred J. Hill at the end?
Is doing the work of media conglomerate lawyers for free and on your own time some kind of performance art? This would make a lot more sense if it is.
I just met the grown-up version of that kid in class who reminded the teacher that she forgot to give homework two minutes before class was going to end. He grew into the most hated archetype on YouTube since Rebecca Black. How can I not have fun with that? I can't help it. You know what, I'll go ahead and apologize. We all have our Internet compulsions, apparently. 
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Kikaioh
 Posts: 1205 Location: Antarctica |
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For technical/personal reasons, I've never had anyone sing to me "Happy Birthday" before, so that's never been an issue. I've been interested in copyright law and anime for decades now it seems, so when I do occasionally stumble on a YouTube channel uploading entire episodes (for example, if I'm looking for reviews, trailers or commentary about anime), I do make it a point to let people know that what they're doing is illegal. I don't view it as a performance art; as I've mentioned on several occasions on this forum in the past, I've studied art for a long time, and share the sentiment of many artists in regards to protecting intellectual rights. In anime circles, where people are a bit more culturally inclined towards piracy, I can see how you might presume public ill against someone with my values. But the real adult world, in my experience at least, is less insular and more mature than that. More importantly though, you're focusing way too much on criticizing me as a person (someone you hardly know), as opposed to criticizing my values/ideals, and for that I'll say you're making things far too personal. And apology accepted --- half-hearted and snarky though it may be, it's at least something of a concession. |
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BigOnAnime
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 1233 Location: Minnesota, USA |
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Why do I get the feeling not much is going to change, and the largest illegal anime streaming site is only just going to be allowed to grow larger? It's already cracked the top 400 for US sites on Alexa (For comparison... CR: 428 FUNi: 2,322) and the top 500 for worldwide. Nearly 26% of its traffic comes from the US alone. You probably know what awful site I'm referring to, but I'm not going to directly mention it.
(Also, to anyone who uses that site, please just torrent instead if you're going to go down that route. With torrents no one profits, with illegal streaming, someone does, especially the awful owners of that awful site with their subscription service, ads, and blocking of AdBlock.)
http://manga-anime-here.com/search?keyword=Sword+Art+Online The search does work though. http://manga-anime-here.com/search?keyword=Dragon+Ball+Z I also like how they still think we can legally watch Hyouka in North America. https://youtu.be/ZpMgyfBCcVA?t=25s
https://twitter.com/BigOnAnime/status/718271726400970752 (See whole chain) https://twitter.com/Yuyucow/status/717853951379574784 They do actually, though their efforts of doing it overseas have issues. Daisuki for example is a massive enigma that has broken countless promises (Go through this thread to see how many didn't happen) and wasted their potential. Not to mention shows expire way, way, way too fast there. Aikatsu! was up for like only three months! |
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zsxvzvzdvzxvxzvxzv
Posts: 13 |
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Well, it's kind hard not to Pirate Anime shows when an 3 episode DVD cost 50$. Granted If they did make anime DVDS cheaper people will still Pirate their favorite anime, but it won't be as bad.
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