In a story that will send an icy finger of dread down the spines of the majority of today’s comics readers, three geeks were arrested in Japan for file-sharing manga. They included one boy and two males, making for a nice yaoi combo.
According to Japan’s Association of Copyright for Computer Software, the Kyoto Prefectural Police’s High-Tech Crime Task Force and other cooperating authorities arrested three male suspects in Tokyo, Morioka, and Osaka, and searched their homes on May 18 for unauthorized file-sharing of manga. The suspects allegedly scanned and uploaded images of Weekly Shonen Jump and Weekly Shonen Sunday manga magazines on the Winny peer-to-peer file-sharing network.
The suspect known as “Boy A” is a 17-year-old Tokyo student who allegedly uploaded Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine every week on the Thursday before the official Monday release date from February 15 to April 5.
The suspect known as “Male B” is a 26-year-old part-time worker in Morioka, Iwate Prefecture who allegedly uploaded Shogakukan’s Weekly Shōnen Sunday manga from February 14 to April 3. The infringed works are reported to be two installments of Shun Matsuena’s Shijou Saikyō no Deshi Kenichi, two installments of Makoto Raiku’s Konjiki no Gash!! (Zatch Bell), and two installments of Nakaba Suzuki’s Blizzard Axel.
The suspect known as “Male C” is a 29-year-old Osaka company employee who also allegedly uploaded Shogakukan’s Weekly Shōnen Sunday manga from January 31 to April 5. The infringed works are reported to be two installments of Kazurō Inoue’s Ai Kora and one installment of Takashi Shiina’s Zettai Karen Children.
Read it and weep.
If only terrorist would were file-sharing manga. Then we could get them, too.
would were??? Sorry. Long night.
Sooooo… who’s going to start the American comics equivalent of the RIAA?
Because, you know, it’s all this file-sharing and scanalation nonsense that’s single-handedly killing the comic book industry. Oh, and webcomics, too. They’re giving away for free that which ought be paid for. Cutting into reputable publishers’ profits, they are. Oh yeah — they gotta go down.*
Any takers?
*sarcasm
eh, i have no feelings on this.
lots of people do this, but the way to rally against this sort of thing is to change the laws, not break them, thinking you are not guilty of anything.
get arrested or don’t. it’s the same policy i apply to most every citizen in a democratic society.
where are the pictures??