Odex letter, fansubs, anime downloads et al.

I've been distracted from work for the past few days by Odex and how they're issuing these letters, legally threatening people who have been downloading fansubs. (For those not living in Singapore here is some info on Odex from wikipedia). The whole Odex incident is very interesting and so it deserves an entry in Sector 6 Slum Junk Shop. It's been going on for the past few months and I've been compiling some interesting links which I've come across. I've been researching on google and reading through many local blogs and forums, and the links are mainly from the more 'prominent' blogs and forums which I came across. One important link is to the interview with the president of the AVPAS, Anti-Video Piracy Association(Singapore) which is the partner in crime of Odex.

See also:
Odex letter updates

This is an interesting article by Henry Jenkins, the Director of the MIT Comparative Media Studies Program; When Piracy Becomes Promotion Revisted....
(See also my post on Anime Piracy)

Here's an extract of the letter sent to the unfortunate people. I got the pdf from Darkmirage's site and converted it into jpegs. I couldn't find Appendix A and B anywhere online though.

This is the site of AVPAS the Anti-Video Piracy Association(Singapore) and Odex Pte. Ltd.

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All the links below can roughly be divided into those before the first Odex letter was sent (May) and those afterwards. Read the comments as well in these blog entries coz they're very informative.


This is what Darkmirage has to say about it (he even wrote to Odex):
Jan 07 An Open Letter to Odex
May 07 Apocalypse now

Another famous site- Research Institute for Unicultural Visual Art (RIUVA). I first found out about Odex through this blog.
Aug 06 Interview with Shia and a Peek into ODEX
May 07 Breaking News!! Big Brother’s Watching You…
Jun 07 Discuss: What Would YOU Do if YOU Were the CEO of Odex?
Jul 07 Gloom and Doom: Otakus’ Mums are Getting Raped!

The last entry leads to the blog of this poor guy (L-Lawliet's site) who was issued an Odex letter.


This is a prominent blog, animedesho, by Tsubaki which went 'redundant' due to the anime clamp-down.
Jan 07 Bye bye animes. Well, for now actually.
Jan 07 O RLY ODEX?
May 07 I told you so.


On the 1st of June 2007, there was an article on Straits Time on the whole anime clamp-down. I managed to find a soft copy from my library but copyright won't allow me to post it up here. However, you can get it from THAT animeblog or here:
Jun 07 It’s in the news: AVPAS acts upon copyright infringement of anime downloading
May 07 A decision to be made: I think I will stop blogging very soon

I also found some responses written to the Straits Time:
Jun 07 'Perception' problem will stay if Odex does not improve service
Jun 07 Odex should harness the Internet to distribute its wares
On a personal note, I think it sucks that I can't post the actual Straits Time article and responses online. Have to be satisfied with the links for now (hope I'm not breaking any law! hehe).


This is an interview with Dr. Toh See Kiat who is the President of AVPAS. This fella called 5parrowhawk happens 'know' Dr. Toh so he managed to arrange for an interview about the whole Odex thing; the letters, fansubs etc. The title is Notes from a Conversation with Dr. Toh See Kiat

This is from tedfox's blog:
Jan 07 Odex taking a positive step towards dvds

Another blog I happen to come across: lolicontrol
Dec 06 I talked to Odex
Jan 07 I talked to my friend who took me to Odex
Jun 07 Fuck You And The Donkey You Rode On Singapore

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The next set of links will be on those taken from some of the forums I stumbled upon. A few threads are really, really long so happy reading!

Singapore HardwareZone
Jan 07 Anime Downloaders Beware.. the Government is after US
May 07 No more BTs for us liaoz.
Jul 07 recieved ODEX letter

SGCafe
May 07 Is Anime Worth Jailtime or 100 000 Dollars?
Jun 07 anyone stopped downloading anime because of odex?

sgForums
"...according to the chinese papers today. 17 singaporeans have been issued with warning letters from the Singapore Anti-Video Piracy Association (AVPA) regarding illegal downloading of animes....."
Jun 06 Singapore cracks down on anime piracy

VRZone
(Shows photos of the actual newspaper article on Straits Time)
Jun 07 WTFBBQ : Anime Fan BEWARE!

GameAxis
Jan 07 Police out to catch people d/l fansubs?

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This is a circular sent to all the people in NUS on the 29th May about anime download and other copyright violations.

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This is an email someone wrote to Odex in response to the letters.

This concludes this Odex post and I will post another one when more news pop up.