The recent victory of PacNet (or PI) over Xedo seems to have taken the Internet by storm, and I have heard many talk of people wanting to jump ship once their current contract expire.
Personally, I not only approve what these fellows intend to do, I will actually encourage them to do so! Because on a more personal – and selfish – level, I really don’t mind some of these downloaders go choke up PI’s bandwidth so that I can have smoother surfing on SingNet or Starhub. Hiak hiak hiak.
Anyway, from an unverified source, I was told that XYSing KYSing of Xedo (and his fellow director), were also directors of a defunct company called Games Mart. (And my own searches on ACRA confirmed this. ACRA reports found here: Odex | Games Mart)
This source informed me that back around 1999, Games Mart Pte Ltd was caught for counterfeit goods (primarily Sony Playstation stuff), and 2 of their directors and an employee were subsequently charged.
These two directors – names omitted as unverified – were found guilty and sentenced to 15 months of jail, along with an employee named Jason, who was sentenced to 10 months. (I have so far failed to verify this and I am not sure if any news on this court case can be found on the Internet to support these unverified claims. It does not seem likely I could get my hands on the court reports like these cases of people getting sued by the Public Prosecutor here and here.)
Personally, I would really like some solid verification of the Games Mart case, and I would appreciate anyone who would point me in the direction of a reputable source of such information. I am personally quite upset with the fact that some people had actually told me that they wouldn’t take blogs and forum comments into serious considerations, but would take note of whatever single-page piece of shit Xedo had currently put up on their site. If that is a testimony of just what low esteem Blogosphere is held by people, then there is really no point for any attempt at Blog journalism, because those people with serious content are discredited in one broad stroke!
Anyway, what I did find in Google, was a brief mention in the comment section of a blog by someone of the moniker of Beowulf that some anime released by Xedo were actually released previously under Games Mart.
While I am not attempting to imply anything here, but it appears that the bad quality of Xedo products has gone a long way back.
And though this really does not justify the very act of downloading anime ‘illegally’, it does explain why some of the people are downloading fan-subs and not buying Xedo products in spite of their attempts at lowering prices.
Food for thought: Is it not necessary to consider these facts, when the argument that downloading is hurting sales is presented in court by Xedo? After all, it appears that there is a long history of people who did want to get their copies legally not getting what their money’s worth.
Addendum:
Those two directors who got 15 months are NOT KYSing or Peter G.
The names are removed from the blog post for 2 reasons – 1. Yellow Ribbon – don’t rub salt to an old wound of people who might now be living a meaningful life; and 2. No verification that they are indeed the ones who end up in jail.
Please DO NOT speculate or use this post as justification to name KY and his fellow director as those two who ended up in jail. I do not wish to be hauled up in court for libel or defamation.
