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Japan's Ministry of Finance Staffer Arrested for Uploading Gundam UC




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DmonHiro





PostPosted: Thu Nov 13, 2014 5:26 am Reply with quote
It's that time of the month where they try and scare people, isn't it?
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mgosdin



Joined: 17 Jul 2011
Posts: 1302
Location: Kissimmee, Florida, USA
PostPosted: Thu Nov 13, 2014 6:12 am Reply with quote
So this time their net pulled in a bureaucrat from their Finance Ministry? Not the usual part-timer.

Mark Gosdin
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luffypirate



Joined: 06 Oct 2006
Posts: 3186
PostPosted: Thu Nov 13, 2014 7:27 am Reply with quote
Still have yet to open my vol.7 better get going on those digests...
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Kadmos1



Joined: 08 May 2014
Posts: 13558
Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP
PostPosted: Thu Nov 13, 2014 8:03 am Reply with quote
When a gov. member of a country that has been cracking down on copyright infringement/piracy is arrested for the thing that the gov. has been fighting against, I find so appropriate to use the terms irony and hypocrisy.
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vanfanel



Joined: 26 Dec 2008
Posts: 1242
PostPosted: Thu Nov 13, 2014 8:03 am Reply with quote
While not approving of what he did, I can at least imagine a reason, since money does have to change hands in order to see Gundam UC legally (a DVD rental fee at the very least).

What baffles me are the "Danchi Tomo'o" and "Yokai Watch" uploaders of the world, who get themselves arrested for bootlegging kids' shows that can be seen on free broadcast TV anyway. The former has even been rerun quite a lot.
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Hameyadea



Joined: 23 Jun 2014
Posts: 3679
PostPosted: Thu Nov 13, 2014 8:55 am Reply with quote
When city officials behave unofficially
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mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 6258
Location: Katy, Texas, USA
PostPosted: Thu Nov 13, 2014 10:36 am Reply with quote
Now the question, will he face the same penalty as the other uploader, or because of his employee ties with the government, will he be given a much lighter sentence??
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Hoppy800



Joined: 09 Aug 2013
Posts: 3331
PostPosted: Thu Nov 13, 2014 11:26 am Reply with quote
This case actually made me chuckle a bit, it seems the political tyranny can't even control their own much less control the country properly. It reminds me of the public works official in Japan that spent taxpayer money on Index novels.
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mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 6258
Location: Katy, Texas, USA
PostPosted: Thu Nov 13, 2014 11:36 am Reply with quote
Hoppy800 wrote:
It reminds me of the public works official in Japan that spent taxpayer money on Index novels.


Really!!! Shocked Shocked
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Hameyadea



Joined: 23 Jun 2014
Posts: 3679
PostPosted: Thu Nov 13, 2014 12:01 pm Reply with quote
Hoppy800 wrote:
It reminds me of the public works official in Japan that spent taxpayer money on Index novels.


CONFIRMED! The Japanese government is winking at J.C Staff to make Index III!
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Cutiebunny



Joined: 18 Apr 2010
Posts: 1748
PostPosted: Thu Nov 13, 2014 12:34 pm Reply with quote
Hameyadea wrote:
When city officials behave unofficially


This is more the norm than you may think.
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Alan45
Village Elder



Joined: 25 Aug 2010
Posts: 9844
Location: Virginia
PostPosted: Thu Nov 13, 2014 2:43 pm Reply with quote
Get real people. Government employees are not part of some hive mind where everyone thinks the same. The fact that the government is enforcing copyright laws doesn't mean that every employee thinks the same or is compliant. If this were an official in the branch of government that was enforcing copyright it would mean something. This case means no more than any other random citizen being caught.

Given the size of modern governments there will always be a certain percentage of law breakers. I doubt the Japanese government makes any attempt to monitor the activities of most of its employees when they are off duty in the absence of suspicious behaviour.
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penguintruth



Joined: 08 Dec 2004
Posts: 8461
Location: Penguinopolis
PostPosted: Thu Nov 13, 2014 4:03 pm Reply with quote
Hey. Gundam Unicorn is expensive, man.

They should have just reassigned this guy to the Ministry of Agriculture.
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DRosencraft



Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 665
PostPosted: Thu Nov 13, 2014 10:49 pm Reply with quote
Alan45 wrote:
Get real people. Government employees are not part of some hive mind where everyone thinks the same. The fact that the government is enforcing copyright laws doesn't mean that every employee thinks the same or is compliant. If this were an official in the branch of government that was enforcing copyright it would mean something. This case means no more than any other random citizen being caught.

Given the size of modern governments there will always be a certain percentage of law breakers. I doubt the Japanese government makes any attempt to monitor the activities of most of its employees when they are off duty in the absence of suspicious behavior.


Most people seem to fail at recognizing this point when it comes to all entities that, while referred to with personal pronouns, are disparate conglomerates of people loosely affiliated around a single purpose.

Most government employees are only employees like anyone outside of government. It is just another job they do to get paid, some with a little more interest in the specific area of work. You don't get a mind-rewrite when you get a government job. Which is why I'm never really surprised when people in government get caught doing things the government doesn't like. It's like being surprised store employees steal store merchandise - whatever logic spurs people to do something doesn't automatically disappear when one gets a certain job.

At any rate, this is no more than the continuation of what has been ongoing in society for a while now. This staffer merely thought he could do something like this without getting caught. And now he got caught. Surely he'll try to use connections with his bosses to get top-notch legal representation to argue complex/arcane legal theory to plea down his punishment. Unless, of course, his bosses run from him like he has Ebola and leave him to fend for himself.
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