Japan targets illegal downloads with piracy penalties

[chrisfallout]

http://www.zdnet.com/japan-targets-illegal-downloads-with-piracy-penalties-7000005006/

Japan targets illegal downloads with piracy penalties

Summary: New penalties have been introduced to hit downloaders of copyright infringing files, who face up to two years in prison or fines up to nearly US$25,700.

Internet users in Japan who illegally download copyright content will face new penalties after a change to the law. They will now face up to two years in jail or up fines to two million yen (US$25,700).

Such activity has been illegal since 2010, but until now had not invoked any penalities, according to a report Sunday by BBC News.

The news agency pointed out this followed a lobbying campaign by the Recording Industry Association of Japan, which had suggested illegal media downloads outnumbered legal ones by about a factor of 10.

Currently, uploaders of copyright infringing music and videos face a maximum penalty of a 10-year prison sentence and a 10 million yen fine (US$128, 318), said BBC news.

Japan's move is the latest in a wider international crackdown on online piracy, following enforcement action such as the United States clampdown on storage service Megaupload and the arrest of members behind the Pirate Bay torrent service.

 

[EzikialRage]

Anti-Downloading Law Hits Japan, Up To 2 Years in Prison From Today

It looks like uploaders and downloader are going to have to get more crafty when it comes to uploading and downloading.

 

[loveIdols]

When you post news that have been reposted by news media it is best to drill down to the source (which in this case is BBC) because there is more (and somewhat more accurate) information:
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-19767970

This rehash by zdnet didn't mention that websites were defaced and protests were held.

 

[chrisfallout]

When you post news that have been reposted by news media it is best to drill down to the source (which in this case is BBC) because there is more (and somewhat more accurate) information:
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-19767970

This rehash by zdnet didn't mention that websites were defaced and protests were held.

that was not being post at time i saw the story. and was not looking for them at the time. also it was matter of time before they came out line light to show there hand.

 

[z1p2h3ll]

Does it mean we should back-off & stay down for an indefinite time ? :notagain:

Or we could just say "ohh" [insert your news comment], take a deep breath for a moment and continue living on Akiba nerd daily basis, which was uploading and/or downloading whatever we like ? :evil:

 

[cattz]

And....all the anime releases along with everything else from yesterday are still on Share / torrents not giving a fuck about it anyways.

So yeah, they might arrest 1 or 2 people eventually, but there will be 280,000+++++++++++++ that go unpunished.

 

[mofuko]

thanks for the BBC article. hadn't heard about this yet. I'm not taking any chances until things are fixed, if they do become so. It's sad that they think profits will go up by preventing downloading. I'm more likely to buy music or such if I can sample it first and really enjoy it. There is so much crap being made nowadays in every form of art. we should all be granted to test drive things first. sure some abuse it, but the companies have been abusing us without regulation for far too long.

 

[TravelingWind]

Old Paradigm trying to suppress the new Paradigm

It might work for a while but the New always wins

 

[bomakkia]

damn it..i live in japan right now and they made a new law..is there any other choice to download AV?

 

[elgringo14]

As far as I remember, the law is focusing on DVD/Bluray/CD rips of live and anime series, movies and music. For some reason other media (JAV, IV, mangas, software) are not really concerned (differences of lobbying?) so they should not be as much affected as the "target" ones. TV streams shall not be concerned as well because they are "free" (at least for the free channels).

 

[JavFanatic]

I did some research, and proxy servers have been said to help disguise online actitivity, but your ISP may still see you moving a lot of data. Here's a list of proxy servers (found it on Gizmodo).

http://www.publicproxyservers.com/proxy/list_rating1.html

 

[Ceewan]

A VPN is probably a better bet for P2P file transfers. However if you use a proxy remember to set your connection settings properly in your P2P client settings. I am not familar with all P2P clients but in Utorrent, for example, you would click OPTIONS then click PREFERENCES then click CONNECTIONS then check under Proxy Privacy Disable connections unsupported by proxy. This means you must have a working proxy or you won't get any connections at all. You will also be at the mercy of the proxies speed so you will likely end up having to search for one that you are comfortable with and hopes it stays accesible, (some proxies are always working most are not). Public Proxies are hit and miss and they are not all anonymous, ( some are transparent which means they leak your IP address). Using public proxies is a bit of work but it is free so you get what you pay for.
You can check a loaded proxies anonymity rating at :
http://www.stilllistener.com/checkpoint1/

another source for proxies is Samair.ru

 

[nitro-]

As far as I remember, the law is focusing on DVD/Bluray/CD rips of live and anime series, movies and music. For some reason other media (JAV, IV, mangas, software) are not really concerned (differences of lobbying?) so they should not be as much affected as the "target" ones. TV streams shall not be concerned as well because they are "free" (at least for the free channels).

While this obviously affects p4p filesharing, does anyone know if using direct-download sites (e.g., bitshare) is safe? I assume there is no way to spy on those kind of downloads?

Also, any concrete info on that quote above? Personally, I purchase my movies/music, so I'm really just concerned about h-manga. (I'll buy the stuff I really like, but don't fancy paying 1000 yen just to flip through something mediocre once).

 

[Ceewan]

While this obviously affects p4p filesharing, does anyone know if using direct-download sites (e.g., bitshare) is safe? I assume there is no way to spy on those kind of downloads?

You assume wrong grasshopper. That does not mean that downloading from cyberlockers is not safe but your ISP not only knows what sites you visit but what links you visit. If your ISP keeps logs, and I believe Japanese ISPs are required to, (have to check that though), or the cyberlocker keeps logs it is very possible that your IP could be linked to an illegal download. It has been done before in countries outside Japan. That does not mean it will happen or that it is even likely to happen, just that it can happen. The law seems aimed more at P2P file sharing but it is broad enough to cover cyberlockers as well.

Also, any concrete info on that quote above? Personally, I purchase my movies/music, so I'm really just concerned about h-manga. (I'll buy the stuff I really like, but don't fancy paying 1000 yen just to flip through something mediocre once).

I have not heard of any evidence ever presented where someone got busted for downloading h-manga via P2P. The pressure for these laws comes from the record and movie industries who are looking to pad their pockets more and are using their global influence and their bank accounts to make it happen. There has been some law suits and DMCA take down requests from authors around the globe before, (mostly concerning e-books), but these are in the vast minority.

As as far as any concrete info on my previous post try browsing torrentfreak.com. I read their columns daily and they reach out to people on both sides of the issue, (though they are clearly a little biased on some issues else Rick Falkvinge, founder of the Pirate Party, would not be their guest columnist). Be informed.

 

[MXS-]

Is there anymore news about this or where we can get more information to equip ourselves?

 

[JavFanatic]

Virtual private networks are a good way to maintain privacy. I recently installed Hotspot Sheild. It has its faults, but it does the job.



http://download.cnet.com/hotspot-shield/

http://www.hotspotshield.com/

 

[Ceewan]

Virtual private networks are a good way to maintain privacy. I recently installed Hotspot Sheild. It has its faults, but it does the job.



http://download.cnet.com/hotspot-shield/

http://www.hotspotshield.com/

What are their faults? Fairly recently, hidemyass.com which also hosts a VPN service, turned over personal details due to a court order. They are not the only VPN to have done this. While I fully respect their decision this would have been impossible if they did not keep user logs, which many VPNs' do not. This is an important point, I would think, as court orders because of suspected piracy have been issued before.

 

[JavFanatic]

What are their faults? Fairly recently, hidemyass.com which also hosts a VPN service, turned over personal details due to a court order. They are not the only VPN to have done this. While I fully respect their decision this would have been impossible if they did not keep user logs, which many VPNs' do not. This is an important point, I would think, as court orders because of suspected piracy have been issued before.

The weakness is with the free version. When you first open your browser (with Hotspot Shield running), it can take a little longer to connect to the Internet. Once connected, no worries.

The free version also can make ads pop-up, but a decent ad blocker makes this a non-issues.

 

[JavFanatic]

What are their faults? Fairly recently, hidemyass.com which also hosts a VPN service, turned over personal details due to a court order. They are not the only VPN to have done this. While I fully respect their decision this would have been impossible if they did not keep user logs, which many VPNs' do not. This is an important point, I would think, as court orders because of suspected piracy have been issued before.

I took a quick look at Hotspot Shield's privacy policy. It applies to the free version as well. It says it does not store personally identifiable info or data. However, it will be interesting to see how VPN providers withstand governments that demand people's info.


http://www.hsselite.com/privacy

 

[Ceewan]

I've posted this link a few times in this forum but AO is a big place so in case you missed it:

https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-providers-really-take-anonymity-seriously-111007/


The people at torrentfreak are pretty cool and I have exchanged a few emails with them from time to time over one issue or another. I am sure if you or anyone has any serious questions about a VPN provider or anything torrent related they would be willing to help. Of course the answer might already be on their site somewhere.