**** CLEARING THE AIR ABOUT JAILED ****
Neil Nadelman
Wednesday 12 July, 1995
With all the hubub that's been brewing about the new industry
anti-piracy alliance, we've seen a lot of debate, a lot of confusion,
and a preponderance of paranoia and misinformation. In an attempt to
get a definite answer one way or another, I talked with John O'Donnell
of Central Park Media today. Hopefully, this statement I'm reporting
to you will make things clearer for everyone. This isn't any sort of
official announcement for JAILED, merely posting what I heard from the
managing director of Central Park Media.
First of all, John was a bit upset with the net reaction that
he and the other representatives on the JAILED panel at Anime Expo were
being "evasive" by not having definite answers for many of the fans'
questions. He explained that they honestly hadn't thought of many of
the situations brought up by the panel attendees, and that it was asking
too much to expect eight different companies to instantly set policy
on them. The scenarios presented by many fans at the panel weren't
considered to be of any great urgency by the members of JAILED while it
was being formed, and so they honestly won't be able to hash out an
official statement until at least the third quarter of 1995.
To be brief, here's John's take on a few things:
1.) If you sell a bootleg tape, you've broken the law.
2.) JAILED exists for one overriding reason:
TO GET BOOTLEG TAPES OUT OF STORES AND CONVENTIONS.
Did you all see that? Let's say it once more.
JAILED exists for one overriding reason:
TO GET BOOTLEG TAPES OUT OF STORES AND CONVENTIONS.
There it is. Simple, isn't it? JAILED wasn't established to
raid fan subbing groups or steal your tapes. It was established to
get rid of the people we've all seen who sell fan subbed videos to
stores and have ruined sales for CPM and other legitimate anime
distributors. It exists to keep bootlegs out of stores and out of
convention dealers' rooms. Anything beyond this purpose, such as the
questions about fan art and such, haven't been discussed in any great
detail because they really aren't viewed as being important to them
at the moment.
So, where does that leave fan subbers and such? Well, read
statement number one again. If you're offering bootleg tapes for sale,
there's a good chance JAILED will go after you. The real point of all
this is that if you're selling unlicensed subbed versions of anime titles,
you are in direct and illegal competition with JAILED and they will move
to protect their rights.
I know this may not answer all your questions or cover every
scenario, but this is essentially what John said to me. Any questions
or suggestions you might have can be better handled by calling JAILED's
toll free number (1-800-917-9799 x209) and talking to Leslie (JAILED's
coordinator). The important thing is to stop all the misinformation and
snowballing rumors and wait for the companies in JAILED to make definite
statements one way or the other.
Now, from MY point of view, here's how this all looks.
You can't expect any JAILED members to ever say that fan subbing is
"okay", because doing so would involve their giving up their rights as
copyright holders. However, it seems to me that if you've got an Amiga
and you run off a fansub for you and your friends, there's no real way
anybody can go after you. Yes, *technically* it's illegal, but there's
no way anybody's going to know about it. But if your fan subbing group
starts looking like a bootleg dealer or a bootleg supplier, then you
should worry. The important thing to remember is that JAILED seems to
be focusing on one thing above all, and that's getting rid of the
for-profit pirates who are selling their tapes at cons and to stores.
So, any comments from the Peanut Gallery?
----------------------------------------+------------------------------------
Neil Nadelman - Doc...@delphi.com | The blood still pulses in my veins.
----------------------------------------| The sun, still at its zenith.
I fear nothing in life, | And I... I, Antonius Block...
because I survived Theta-G! | Am playing chess with Death.
----------------------------------------+------------------------------------
Mark L. Neidengard
Steven Miale <smi...@cs.indiana.edu> wrote:
>Neil, thanks for doing this. I'm not flaming you, just JAILED.
>
>In article <JtAiQYj...@delphi.com>,
>Neil Nadelman <doc...@delphi.com> wrote:
>> First of all, John was a bit upset with the net reaction that
>>he and the other representatives on the JAILED panel at Anime Expo were
>>being "evasive" by not having definite answers for many of the fans'
>>questions. He explained that they honestly hadn't thought of many of
>>the situations brought up by the panel attendees, and that it was asking
>>too much to expect eight different companies to instantly set policy
>>on them.
>
>companies even *considered* that fans could feel threatened by JAILED before
>it was announced.
I'm prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt. And even if not, what
would be accomplished by bickering over _when_ someone formulated their
opinion?
>Thus, I fail to believe their statements.
Are you prepared to listen to the announcement?
>> JAILED exists for one overriding reason:
>>
>> TO GET BOOTLEG TAPES OUT OF STORES AND CONVENTIONS.
>
>JAILED has not made any statement about fan translators. I asked one of their
>representatives over a month ago. She never replied to my email.
Were you at the panel at AX? The question came up, and the reply was,
perhaps, a little ambiguous, probably because it _had_ to be. It MUST be
noted that:
1) JAILED cannot _condone_ activity like script distribution or fansubbing
2) JAILED's PRIMARY TARGET is commercial pirates
In light of this, the message that I received from the AX panel was that
JAILED was not, at least for now, going to try to stop the creation and
dissemination of scripts, NOR was it going to try to do the same for the
fansubbing groups. Both activities, as pointed out at the panel, ARE
formally illegal, but are not JAILED's current concern.
Also, it's worth reiterating that JAILED did not contact AXIS and stop them
from distributing the hotly-debated scripts that caused such a flame war here
on r.a.a.
>>detail because they really aren't viewed as being important to them
>>at the moment.
>
>"At the moment." Precisely.
What do you want?! Fansubbing is ILLEGAL! Does that mean that JAILED is
targeting it at the moment? NO. Could someone prosecute you for trading
in fansubbed tapes? YES. Let's be honest with ourselves here: a lot of
the stuff that goes on in the fan industry is _formally_ against the law.
Obviously, we who participate in this stuff must feel we are at least
morally in the right if we keep up our activities (or else are hypocritical).
JAILED will not give a guarantee of never pursuing the fansubbers because
they cannot...it is entirely possible that a day will come when fansubbing
no longer serves any useful purpose (though I hope this is far off) and JAILED
or another organization may start cracking down.
We all have to come to terms with the notion that fan-translated anime, as
currently disseminated is illegal. We then have to decide whether it is
immoral. Make your choice.
One thing JAILED did say, though, is that they would try to keep the
net.community appraised of their priorities, so that if their targeting DID
shift to the fansubbers, they said that they would at least warn them first
(and by implication give them a chance to pull out before breaking heads).
>>You can't expect any JAILED members to ever say that fan subbing is
>>"okay", because doing so would involve their giving up their rights as
>>copyright holders. However, it seems to me that if you've got an Amiga
>>and you run off a fansub for you and your friends, there's no real way
>>anybody can go after you.
>
>Wrong. They can go after you, and seize your computer, tapes, VCR, and LDs.
>The FBI did this during Operation Sundevil.
Operation Sundevil was a badly mismanaged and misguided operation that
in some cases overstepped the rights of the government to seize private
property (it was this that sparked the Electronic Frontier Foundation).
If you are disseminating material in violation of copyright law (which
includes dissemination of fansubs) then things can _legally_ be confiscated.
Once AGAIN JAILED is not prioritizing the fansubbing community at this
point, and did not imply at their panel that they planned to do so in the
operationally-immediate future.
>"Ah," but you say, "this won't be worth it." Yes it will. If a few fan
>distributors have their equipment seized, do you think anyone else is going
>to risk making copies?
And what would this accomplish for JAILED? It would SEVERELY piss off the
fans. They don't want to curtail fansubbing OR piss off the fans...they
want to ensure profits for the commercial material put forth by the JAILED
members. It seems that the fan community has been coexisting in harmony
(by and large) with the commerical scene for a long time now. Both camps
want the bootleggers (at conventions and such) out of business. Really,
nothing has changed except that now the industry has a visible Big Stick,
which is not being brandished in "our" direction.
--
/!\/!ark /!\!eidengard, CS Major, VLSI. http://www.cacr.caltech.edu/~mneideng
"Fairy of sleep, controller of illusions" Operator/System Administrator, CACR
"Control the person for my own purpose." "Don't mess with the Dark Elves!"
-Pirotess, _Record_of_Lodoss_War_ Shadowrunner and Anime Addict
Ken Arromdee
Steven Miale <smi...@cs.indiana.edu> wrote:
>First, I have a difficult time believing no one at any of the eight member
>companies even *considered* that fans could feel threatened by JAILED before
>it was announced.
Also, remember, we just had two conventions a week apart. Somehow, JAILED
never listened to the questions at the first convention well enough to have
had answers by the second.
--
Ken Arromdee (email: arro...@jyusenkyou.cs.jhu.edu)
Romana: "But he had such an honest face!"
Doctor: "Romana! You can't be a successful thief with a _dis_honest face!"
Enrique Conty
>
>First, I have a difficult time believing no one at any of the eight member
>companies even *considered* that fans could feel threatened by JAILED before
>it was announced.
I'm sure they are more than well aware of fansubs, they just hadn't
decided what to *DO* about them, so they didn't want to make any
official announcements at the cons. And I can believe they hadn't
considered what to do about fan artwork such as t-shirts and so on...
>>You can't expect any JAILED members to ever say that fan subbing is
>>"okay", because doing so would involve their giving up their rights as
>>copyright holders. However, it seems to me that if you've got an Amiga
>>and you run off a fansub for you and your friends, there's no real way
>>anybody can go after you.
>
>Wrong. They can go after you, and seize your computer, tapes, VCR, and LDs.
>The FBI did this during Operation Sundevil.
Oh, they physically can, but will they bother? Where's the profit in that?
--
Enrique Conty
co...@cig.mot.com
Phill Deathbringer Sunbury
> To be brief, here's John's take on a few things:
> 1.) If you sell a bootleg tape, you've broken the law.
> 2.) JAILED exists for one overriding reason:
> TO GET BOOTLEG TAPES OUT OF STORES AND CONVENTIONS.
> So, any comments from the Peanut Gallery?
Well I was at the AA Jailed panel and I saw the slippery slope slide.
One of the members would say one thing wasn't going to be targeted
by jailed then a few moments later another member would be back
peddling. Also the comment was made that what Jailed would go after
depends on what the Japanese creaters wanted them to go after.
Do you think JAILED is going to stand up and say no to the forces
that created them if they tell them to start going after fan-dubbers?
Why JAILED was created was for MONEY people always knew there is a lot
of bootlegging (im not condoning bootlegging) in anime but the american
companies got into anyways and now they want to expand their market by
getting rid of the bootleggers. You honestly don't think in the
future they won't want to expand their market again but getting rid
of the fan stuff?
I don't know how you can say what JAILED rules are when at the panel
they told us they didn't have the specifics worked out themselves.
Mark L. Neidengard
Ryan Mathews <math...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>This is what I want to see a response to. Not the specific Ranma case.
>I want a response to Sue's allegation that Lopa, claiming to speak for
>JAILED, has tried to get her to stop translating *everything*. I mean,
>who do you believe? A legal organization who's still getting its act
>together? Or a fan-translator who has been respected by the fans since
>way before I'd even heard of anime?
If this is the problem, then it's certainly not been discussed along those
clear-clut lines on this newsgroup, or at least that's not the impression
I had garnered. Whaddya think, time to clarify the issues here?
Dan J. Rockwell
: Well I was at the AA Jailed panel and I saw the slippery slope slide.
: One of the members would say one thing wasn't going to be targeted
: by jailed then a few moments later another member would be back
: peddling. Also the comment was made that what Jailed would go after
: depends on what the Japanese creaters wanted them to go after.
: Do you think JAILED is going to stand up and say no to the forces
: that created them if they tell them to start going after fan-dubbers?
Great so in reality JAILED is just an exstension of overly concerened
japanese money makers eh? So JAILED is just a sweet puppet of sorts.
Great!
: Why JAILED was created was for MONEY people always knew there is a lot
: of bootlegging (im not condoning bootlegging) in anime but the american
: companies got into anyways and now they want to expand their market by
: getting rid of the bootleggers. You honestly don't think in the
: future they won't want to expand their market again but getting rid
: of the fan stuff?
: I don't know how you can say what JAILED rules are when at the panel
: they told us they didn't have the specifics worked out themselves.
bottom line the money rules regardless. JAILED will be the big brother of
anime, fan subs will go underground, bootleggers will get smarter, the fans
will weed out to only a knowledgable few.
Dan rockwell
Scott A. H. Ruggels
>In article <1995Jul13.0...@news.cs.indiana.edu> "Steven Miale" <smi...@cs.indiana.edu> writes:
>>
>>First, I have a difficult time believing no one at any of the eight member
>>companies even *considered* that fans could feel threatened by JAILED before
>>it was announced.
>
>I'm sure they are more than well aware of fansubs, they just hadn't
>decided what to *DO* about them, so they didn't want to make any
>official announcements at the cons. And I can believe they hadn't
>considered what to do about fan artwork such as t-shirts and so on...
>
>>>"okay", because doing so would involve their giving up their rights as
>>>copyright holders. However, it seems to me that if you've got an Amiga
>>>and you run off a fansub for you and your friends, there's no real way
>>>anybody can go after you.
>>
>>The FBI did this during Operation Sundevil.
>
>Oh, they physically can, but will they bother? Where's the profit in that?
>--
>Enrique Conty
>co...@cig.mot.com
They make no profit on the raids, but the raids inspire fear and uncertanty, and cause others to abandon similar behavior.Sundevil w=
as done poorly. But successful raids have made printers in the state of Missouri refuse to print any material that has an exposed ni=
pple or crotch, because RICO prosecutionss have been effective.
In the long run it is profitable because it narrows competition, and makes those that back the raids the sole supplier of product. S=
undevil was done poorly. Missouri was done well. The FBI tends to be these days a competant organization.
Scott
Ryan Mathews
writes:
>
> Wednesday 12 July, 1995
Don't take this the wrong way, Neil, but... you're not telling us
anything we didn't already know.
Until JAILED, Viz, or Lopa comes out with an official explanation as to
Lopa's alleged harassment of Sue Shambaugh, I am and will always be
suspicious.
--
---------- Ryan Mathews
Email: math...@ix.netcom.com "I like you! You wanna be a
SnailMail: 786 High Street guinea pig for my experiments?"
Bedford OH, 44146 -- Washuu-chan
Enrique Conty
>In article <3u3r50$e...@newdelph.cig.mot.com>,
>Enrique Conty <co...@rtsg.mot.com> wrote:
>>I'm sure they are more than well aware of fansubs, they just hadn't
>>decided what to *DO* about them, so they didn't want to make any
>>official announcements at the cons.
>
>and claiming that they hadn't strikes me as not being entirely truthful.
I don't know. Remember, JAILED is run by comittee, and I can see them:
- having to need several weeks/months to iron out all issues...
- deciding *not* to decide on those issues by now, and instead focusing
on bootleggers, who are the big problem.
Give them the benefit of the doubt. After all,
THEY HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING YET!
>>>Wrong. They can go after you, and seize your computer, tapes, VCR, and LDs.
>>>The FBI did this during Operation Sundevil.
>>Oh, they physically can, but will they bother? Where's the profit in that?
>Profit in _one_ seizure? Very little profit.
Try *NO* profit, but rather a *LOSS*. Not smart! See below!
>Look at Sundevil. A few people getting arrested practically shut down all
>the "cracker" BBS' overnight.
Your analogy doesn't quite work. See, the cracker BBSes are the
clearinghouses for pirated anime, kinda like bootleggers and some of
the more disreputable fanclubs out there. It's not worth it to go
after the kid who pirated a copy of a game from his neighbor, just
like it's not worth it to go after 3 fans who subbed a copy of Minky
Momo to pass among their friends. Too much money and effort spent on
lawyers, policemen, etc., which for the meager result provided is
definitely not worth it.
--
Enrique Conty
co...@cig.mot.com
Ryan Mathews
gav...@soyokaze.biosci.ohio-state.edu (Ryan P. Gavigan) writes:
>[Lopa] said Sue was selling Ranma translation, and
>in conversation actually referred to people obtaining said scripts as
>*customers*...which could not be condoned and Sue was asked/told to
>cease and desist...
Yeah, but as we all know, Sue claims Lopa didn't stop at asking Sue to
stop distributing Ranma scripts. Sue has said multiple times that she
offered to quit doing Ranma, quit doing anything Viz has, quit doing
Shogakukan material. According to Sue, nothing would appease Lopa save
Sue getting out of the translating business altogether. Plus, Sue has
made disturbing allegations that Lopa has been blackballing her, that
Sue lost a professional translating job because Lopa was friends with
the person she would have worked for.
This is what I want to see a response to. Not the specific Ranma case.
I want a response to Sue's allegation that Lopa, claiming to speak for
JAILED, has tried to get her to stop translating *everything*. I mean,
who do you believe? A legal organization who's still getting its act
together? Or a fan-translator who has been respected by the fans since
way before I'd even heard of anime?
Iskandar Taib
Phill "Deathbringer" Sunbury <sun...@rohan.sdsu.edu> wrote:
>Do you think JAILED is going to stand up and say no to the forces
>that created them if they tell them to start going after fan-dubbers?
That is more or less what they said at Expo.
They said they weren't interested in fansubbers - they were after the
pirates at cons and selling out of shops. But they said that if the
companies in Japan ask them to make the fansubbers stop, they won't
have much of a choice. Apparently some fansubs _have_ made their way
to Japan and caused a few raised eyebrows, especially those that have
"company animation" added to the beginning...
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Iskandar Taib | The only thing worse than Peach ala
Internet: nt...@silver.ucs.indiana.edu | Frog is Frog ala Peach
Home page: http://bigwig.geology.indiana.edu/iskandar/isk2.html
Ryan P. Gavigan
>In <JtAiQYj...@delphi.com> Neil Nadelman <doc...@delphi.com>
>writes:
>> ******** CLEARING THE AIR ABOUT J.A.I.L.E.D. ********
>>
>> Wednesday 12 July, 1995
>
>Don't take this the wrong way, Neil, but... you're not telling us
>anything we didn't already know.
>
>Until JAILED, Viz, or Lopa comes out with an official explanation as to
>Lopa's alleged harassment of Sue Shambaugh, I am and will always be
>suspicious.
Umm...she did...at AnAm....said Sue was selling Ranma translation, and
in conversation actually referred to people obtaining said scripts as
*customers*...which could not be condoned and Sue was asked/told to
cease and desist...
that is what Lopa explained, and was quite animated about it, especially
being kind of unnerved 'being a small lady' and receiving death threats
on her answering machine
Ryan Gavigan
gav...@soyokaze.biosci.ohio-state.edu
Iskandar Taib
>>>Wrong. They can go after you, and seize your computer, tapes, VCR, and LDs.
>>>The FBI did this during Operation Sundevil.
And that stunt the Scientologists pulled off recently..
All it took was to convince one judge to issue a warrant, a couple
offduty cops and a bunch of your own people to cart off the
"evidence". Even if the stuff never goes to trial, it must be darned
traumatic..
I'm NOT saying JAILED is going to do this to a non-bootlegger - I
really don't think they will, given the huge uproar it would create,
and yes, I do believe them.
Kagato
: In article <3u66cq$p...@newdelph.cig.mot.com>,
: Enrique Conty <co...@rtsg.mot.com> wrote:
: >I don't know. Remember, JAILED is run by comittee, and I can see them:
: >- having to need several weeks/months to iron out all issues...
: Which they have had, unless you think the formation of JAILED was a spur of
: the moment decision. It had to be in planning for months.
What they've had are several weeks/months to plan their strategy to deal
with the bootleg problem. This fansub thing is nowhere close to the top
of their priorities; probably not even on the list after observing their
panel at AX. It is always easy to point at an organization and call them
out for offending one's sense of proportion. It is less easy to understand
that they have their own schedule and they neither owe it to their importance
to appease the fansub community, nor in fact even talk about it at all.
: >>Look at Sundevil. A few people getting arrested practically shut down all
: >>the "cracker" BBS' overnight.
: >
: >Your analogy doesn't quite work. See, the cracker BBSes are the
: >clearinghouses for pirated anime, kinda like bootleggers and some of
: >the more disreputable fanclubs out there. It's not worth it to go
: >after the kid who pirated a copy of a game from his neighbor, just
: >like it's not worth it to go after 3 fans who subbed a copy of Minky
: >Momo to pass among their friends. Too much money and effort spent on
: >lawyers, policemen, etc., which for the meager result provided is
: >definitely not worth it.
: I don't think you understand what I am trying to say. If people are afraid
: that, by making copies, they will lose their anime collections and VCRs,
: they aren't going to do it. JAILED doesn't have to shut down everyone, or
: even a majority of distributors or fansubbers; just one. Hell, look at
: what _rumors_ of legal action did to AXIS! If JAILED actively went after
: NT, or Nexus, or AA, or any other subbing group; OR after a distributor,
: do you honestly believe that it would have no effect whatsoever on anyone
: else?
Uh, what are you complaining about? If rumors halted a fansub operation,
then blame the rumormongers, not JAILED. One almost gets the impression
that JAILED is getting blamed for *existing*, not for actually doing anything.
You can't tell me JAILED is responsible for human nature. People have
been practicing the fine art of covering their own ass long before now. ;)
--Crow
/* http://www.mcs.com/~syzygy/ */
Mark L. Neidengard
Steven Miale <smi...@cs.indiana.edu> wrote:
>In article <3u3hdc$k...@gap.cco.caltech.edu>,
>Mark L. Neidengard <mnei...@sloth.ugcs.caltech.edu> wrote:
>>>JAILED has not made any statement about fan translators. I asked one of their
>>>representatives over a month ago. She never replied to my email.
>>
>>Were you at the panel at AX? The question came up, and the reply was,
>>perhaps, a little ambiguous, probably because it _had_ to be. It MUST be
>>noted that:
>>1) JAILED cannot _condone_ activity like script distribution or fansubbing
>>2) JAILED's PRIMARY TARGET is commercial pirates
>
Right. You may read that as "current" target. Presumably commercial pirates
will always be at the top of their hitlist, though if they managed to shut
down enough of them, I honestly can't say what "secondary" targets they might
pick. We've seen several candidates discussed...
>
>>In light of this, the message that I received from the AX panel was that
>>JAILED was not, at least for now, going to try to stop the creation and
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>dissemination of scripts, NOR was it going to try to do the same for the
>>fansubbing groups. Both activities, as pointed out at the panel, ARE
>>formally illegal, but are not JAILED's current concern.
> ^^^^^^^
>Precisely! My point is that JAILED, while their interests may not lie with
>us _at the moment_, may well suddenly turn and stab us in the back.
This may come as a surprise to some of you, but in the real world there is
no such thing as 100% certainty. We all have our price, though in some cases
noone may have enough "money" =|
>
>>One thing JAILED did say, though, is that they would try to keep the
>>net.community appraised of their priorities,
>
>They didn't even ANNOUNCE JAILED here first; we got it second-hand.
They were still nascent at that stage. If I were to play devil's advocate, I
could say that the posters to the net at the time maybe jumped the gun,
though I think in general the information flow was appropriate given the
circumstances. At least now that JAILED has "convened", I think I'm prepared
to take their commitment to keep the net.community appraised of their
actions at face value until I see evidence to the contrary.
>
>>If you are disseminating material in violation of copyright law (which
>>includes dissemination of fansubs) then things can _legally_ be confiscated.
>
>Yep.
>
>>Once AGAIN JAILED is not prioritizing the fansubbing community at this
>>point, and did not imply at their panel that they planned to do so in the
>>operationally-immediate future.
>
>"At this point" "operationally-immediate future" Do you understand the point
>that I am trying to make?
Yes. Do you understand mine? You ARE NOT GOING TO GET A GUARANTEE THAT THEY
WILL NEVER COME AFTER FANSUBBERS OR FANSUBBED TAPES. There, is that plain
enough for everybody? Now, what we CAN do is try to work with the industry
and promote the quality, American-language anime that we all want, but doing
fansubbing where appropriate, and _desisting_ fansubbing when appropriate.
It _need_not_ be an us-and-them situation...
>
>>And what would this accomplish for JAILED? It would SEVERELY piss off the
>>fans.
>
>Really? Look at this group. Look at all the 'fans' who get all their anime
>at Blockbuster. The 'fans' that this would piss off don't make up many sales!
>Most of the sales are to Joe Sixpack, especially the dubs. If/when they
>determine that the old fandom doesn't matter anymore, they will crack down.
>And what will you do then?
When I said fans, I wasn't referring to the masses. I was referring to "us",
the folks that give a damn (many of whom are active here on the net). The
fact that JAILED is soliciting our input means that they care what we have to
say. How much that translates into policy remains a partially open question,
which is not the point I was making. And if they determine that fandom does
not matter anymore and even if they eliminate all fansubbing groups
currently in existence, I will continue doing what I'm doing now, though I
consider myself a rare case. I will continue to buy Japanese imports and
(if the quality is good) domestic releases. The thing that will be missing is
the fan stuff, which offen is available faster than the commercial stuff and
sometimes is of higher quality. Do I want the fansubbers shut down? HELL no.
Everyone (including me) will suffer tremendously if this happens.
I _do_ think the best way to prevent this from happening is for "us", the
fan community, to work with the companies, rather than against them.