Forum - View topicNEWS: FBI Shuts Down Comics Scan Site
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Ian K
 Posts: 250 |
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I would suggest that the people who feel that with the Internet 'all information should be free' take a look at China. Because of the incredibly rampant levels of media piracy, you can literally walk into a completely legitimate store, buy a shrink wrapped DVD, and find when you get home that it's a crappy video someone took with a cell phone in a movie theatre. The situation is so bad that even people who want to support legitimate properties can't, because they can't find them, and the bootlegs have no quality controls. Is that what we want here?
I'm not gonna lie, I love how when I hear about a new band/comic/tv show I can go onto YouTube or wherever and check out some of there stuff. But realistically, as much as I try to support the creators that I like, it does cut into how much I buy. I still think we have a long way to go towards figuring out how to make media profitable in the age of the Internet, and the truth is unethical people (cough Crunchyroll cough) are going to play a big part in helping us pioneer new ideas. Still, as much as I might use themyself, I can only see the removal of unauthorized 'samples' as a good thing for reponsable consumers who want to have a healthy market to buy from. |
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Tofusensei
Posts: 365 |
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Awesome link. Thanks for posting that! I really wonder if he was trying to set up a shoddy legal defense in case he was raided ("But I thought libraries were exempt!") or if he genuinely believed the crap he was spewing. In either case, just desserts. |
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Onizuka666
Posts: 266 Location: U.K |
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@Ian K
No chance of things getting as bad as China. The chinese have a warped culture of producing knock off and pirated goods going way back whenever, long before the net was born. While they're now becoming more affluent with a hint of capitalist on a big communist cake, their controls over such things have always been shady. Besides, there's a big difference between reproducing a mass of physical product for sale as they do, and just DLing something for person use. The fast majority that do pirate online sit in the latter camp, and expect a certain degree of quality, when it comes to video or music content, especially with most TVs now being HD. Chinese bootlegs will never compare in this department. While not available elsewhere, I noticed that Hulu is now gone to a similar paid access as Crunchyroll. Time will tell how that will work for them, as there's never any guarantees. And since Hulu is U.S only (regional license crap be damned, as it should not matter online, IMO), file sharing fills that gap for other people. |
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kdmccaskill
Posts: 47 |
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Is onemanga.com next?
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Ian K
Posts: 250 |
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@Onizuka
Perhaps not. But with all the differences, it still stands, I think, as an examaple of how a world free from copyrights and big media conglomerates isn't necessarily one we want to live in. The copycat culture of China may be older, but is it that different from thek people who put the works of others up on YouTube in their own names? In a copyright free society, how can artist make sure their name even stays associated with their works? And if they don't receive credit, to say nothing of profit, we're going to see the quality of releases drop (if not physically than artistically). |
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yamiangie
 Posts: 465 |
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Well they are going over the site for adult content but I thought they were set up by people outside the U.S. or something or the servers are.
Then again I think the real draw of getting things in trade paperback are those little extras. Those notes from the author at the start of every manga GN the charater profiles to eat up dead page space. They have those in American trades as well. The ones i have for the curent captian america run have concept artwork and scripts sometimes. That and manga makes for great light reading when you are waiting someplace like a doctor's office. |
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agila61
 Posts: 3213 Location: NE Ohio |
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In what sense is Crunchyroll currently unethical? Where is the incentive of those trying to work out a legit way of operating to do so if over a year after going entirely legit, they are used as an example of "unethical people". Indeed, even before Crunchyroll went legit, they had far more ethics than the leech streaming sites do today ... they took down material that was licensed in the US, while the leech streaming sites upload new copies of bootlegs when sites like Veoh, Megavideo or MySpace have to take down their old copy for copyright violation. |
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mglittlerobin
 Posts: 1071 |
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Well, Penguinoftruth, we all see those annoying FBI warnings on our DVDs about how they investigate copyright infringement, so why wouldn't they do it for comics. After all it says that no part of the book my be copied or redistributed without the publishers consent, in every book published in this country. So it makes sense for them to shut it down. I think they thought publishers wouldn't notice. |
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LibraryJoy
 Posts: 27 |
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I just wanted to speak to the comments on here about libraries. As a librarian, it's in my best interest....
Libraries can lend physical copies because it's easy to control how many people can be using that copy at the same time. We purchase the rights to one copy when we buy the book, and in general, no more than one person can be using the copy at once (with the assumption that photocopying an entire book is cost- and time-prohibitive). Libraries actually do a lot to support the industry. As a teen librarian, I purchase books that my teens could probably not afford to buy on their own - over $1000 a year on manga alone, in a small/medium sized library. Because I have a larger budget than your average teen (I assume), I can afford to take risks on some lesser-known series and purchase larger series that might be too big a commitment. Not to mention these kids would have to either get a parent's credit card to order online or get someone to drive them an hour away to the nearest bookstore. The library also allows people to find manga for the first time and try it out with no risk to the wallet. I know I never would have bought manga if I hadn't first tried it at the library, and now I'm a dedicated reader, even purchasing some titles I read at the library for my own collection in addition to others. Digital distribution is completely different from a library, because the limits of distance and number of copies do not exist. A library book can't be borrowed by someone in Texas and then by someone in California in a short amount of time. I buy all that manga, and the library in the next town buys it, too. A library book also can't duplicate itself in seconds. This is why libraries are permitted to lend books, but online libraries haven't really taken off yet and scan sites are piracy. As a society and a library community, we still haven't really found a balance between the convenience of digital and the responsiblities of copyright. Can you tell I'm passionate about this? :P |
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CCSYueh
 Posts: 2707 Location: San Diego, CA |
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This has always been a wordplay argument to me. I grew up understanding copyright infringement to be stuff like almost clones of Mickey or Scooby used by companies other than those that own the characters. Make your own mascot. The argument that it's infringement just because the item itself wasn't stolen is bogus. If I take clothes off your line, wear them, then return them to your line, I didn't steal them, right? I just borrowed them. If I take your car to drive to the store, but put it back in your driveway, I just borrowed it, right? The issue is PERMISSION. I have more than a few clients who "Took vehicle without permission" This is what it comes down to. Most all of the scan-sites DO NOT have the permission of the copyright holder to post that stuff online.
Most I've bought are on the small size-smaller than ours-& on paper that's almost yellow when one buys it--very, very cheap paper. Not to mention, they've usually run in a magazine, thus this is like selling dvds of tv series-icing on the profit cake for the publishers.
Knights of the Zodiac was one of the lower ($7.95) list up to the very last 2 volumes, dude. That means full price would be $226.68, HOWEVER--- TRSI offers Viz titles for 25% off so that becomes $169.94. If you bought them at the TRSI Viz sales, the it would be $149.80 or $134.82 with their 10% Got Anime discount which isn't all that bad for 28 volumes. Those first 26 volumes come down to $4.80 per volume which is pretty damned close to that precious Japanese 420 yen you all wave around as your excuse manga is too expensive in the US.
Libraries are doing a community service. There's no guarantee that the library will buy all the copies of the title you're interested in or what shape it will be in. You may have to wait weeks to get a copy. This is why most people I know don't bother if they're in a position to buy the book themselves. Finally, it is a PHYSICAL copy which has to pass around person to person, unlike an online scan which can be used by thousands every day.
Maybe that's why he's the ex-director. As someone who's worked in law enforcement for over 15 yrs, I can tell you every time we get a new director/chief/whatever the entity is called, we get a shuffle of what crimes are important & what crimes to put a very low priority on. Around 2000, we couldn't get the Border people to talk to us about illegals on our caseload needing to be deported. By 2005, they were more than happy to hear from us. The illegal convicted felons didn't change, but the focus of INS changed.
The FBI deals with domestic stuff & stuff crossing state borders. The reason they get to deal with terrorists is it often involves crossing state lines. Trust me, states can be rather pissy over their powers & things can get drawn out real quick. That recent Times Square guy could have escaped if they had to wait for all the jurisdictional stuff to allow the investigation to proceed. Pretty much anything posted online would equate crossing state lines because the material is likely able to be viewed outside the original poster's state. That's why I found it strange the FBI was involved in Death Note. People dying in Japan has nothing to do with the FBI. Wouldn't it be the CIA & they'd have just taken out the most likely suspects with snipers & no trace back to them?
They have every right to charge what they want for the item they are selling. Pepsi & Coke sell for about the same because if one raised its price, many consumers would simply switch. I like Peach Fresca, but only buy it on sale, thank you. When my daughter asked what I wanted for my birthday, I looked over my old VHS tapes I've not replaced on dvd yet & told her Dead Heat, Slipper & the Rose & Angel Heart. Slipper & the Rose was immediately dropped from the running because it's apparently out of print with used copies going for about $75 & new for $135. Because it has lapsed from release, those that have a copy are gouging the prospective buyers. That's life. I was more pissed back in the 80's when I think it was Miller drew 3 Thors. I went in to pick up my copy-none on the comicbookstore shelf, but there were several copies in the back-issue bin for $6 the week of issue. Disney has a rotation on those things-every 7 yrs isn't it? That's why all the fuss about limited release. Beauty & the Beast & James & the Giant Peach are coming up this year & I'm looking at getting them. Last edited by CCSYueh on Thu May 06, 2010 11:52 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Greed1914
 Posts: 4449 |
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1. Carefeul with your quotes. That first one isn't mine. 2. The point still is that the public library is legally able to loan out what they have. |
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Delpheno
Posts: 59 |
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'bout that time eh chap?
... righto. |
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CCSYueh
Posts: 2707 Location: San Diego, CA |
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Each person has to make the decision about what's a waste & what is not. I could rely on the library for my anime & manga, but then I would have to wait for the copy to be in stock/request from other branches/etc. If you read so little manga, you might be better off borrowing it. add a 0 & you're at my manga collection. My anime's around 2400 dvds.
People always do this & it is sooo annoying. When they're getting a ticket for breaking a traffic law it's "Why aren't you busting hookers on [insert street this is done on in one's town]?" "My taxes are too high! Cut programs!"-which programs? Most every program has supporters so these cuts usually hurt those least able to afford it while the fat cats pissing the public off still get their full pay & raises & freebies. Hollywood isn't just the big salaried actors, producers, & directors. The movie industry has all those other people working on a film to get paid who are affected by your "borrowing without permission" their work. The studio makes less money, they make less movies, these guys don't get hired for a new project. Someone reads an online scan of Batman doens't buy the comic, the ripple goes out thru all the people involved from the writer to the guy driving the truck delivering it to the comic shop. But go ahead & call it a waste of tax dollars. |
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Narutofreak1
Posts: 7 |
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You guys can hate on scanlations all you want, but scanlations HAS helped various of smaller series.
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agila61
Posts: 3213 Location: NE Ohio |
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Helped in what way? "Helped make more popular" is not helped if the revenues drop. The ANNcast with Vertical_Ed is evidence that its the opposite. They had a title that hit a big scanlation site and their sales dropped dramatically ... it was in fact investigating the sales drop that led them to find out it had just hit a big scanlation site. If all the people claiming that scanlations help out one or another kind of series are freeloaders, and none of the claims that scanlations help comes from the people it would be helping ... the claim seems more like self-justifying rationalization than anything else. |
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