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ADV taking on Digital Bootleggers

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Elite Fansubs posts Discussion with ADV's Andy Kent.

Elite Fansubs has posted the transcript of an IRC discussion with ADV's Andy Kent.

According to the discussion, Andy is checking IRC channels for people who are trading ADV licenced Anime. He takes down the necessarry information which he then passes on to ADV's legal department. A letter is then generally sent to the offender's ISP, which would in most cases have their Internet service cancelled.

It is important to understand that ADV is seeking out people who are trading/distributing titles that have been licenced by ADV. They are not hunting down fansubbers/distributors of unlicenced Anime.

The ethical guidelines that most fansubbers adhere to, in principal at least, is that fansubbing and distribution of a title is acceptable provided it has not been licenced. Once a title is licenced ethical distributors are supposed to cease distribution of the title. In an Anime News Network survey, 57% of those surveyed responded that they felt fansubbing was acceptable if it is ethically carried out. Nonetheless, even ethical fansubbing is legally an infringement of copyright.

Andy pointed out that ADV's goal isn't really to catch bootleggers, but to persuade people not to bootleg, "The idea isn't to kill all anime piracy, just to get people who don't otherwise care to not serve stuff", "A bit of publicity means I do a lot less work; I'd rather people didn't DO it than catch them at it."

While we haven't had a chance to speak directly with Andy yet, ANN has been able to confirm with ADV that Andy is indeed doing this as a part of his responsabilities at ADV.

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