Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~ Forum

Okay, I am just completely lacking in words to say about this. Episode 10 of Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~, which was supposed to air tomorrow at 1pm central time on FUNimation's video site, about 45 minutes after it starts airing in Japan, was discovered by a group on FUNimation's servers almost a full day prior to its actual scheduled airtime, as was Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, which had at least already aired in Japan. Of course, both shows wound up on BitTorrent shortly thereafter. (And this right on the coattails of the news that FUNi was restoring the FMA simulcast!)

I am completely mind-boggled. First, as much as I love FUNimation and have great respect for all its employees, I'm very surprised that they didn't do more to make the episodes secure, such as take them off the servers until closer to airtime (which wouldn't require any change in technology), or password-protect them (which might). Especially for FMA, since its streaming was supposed to have been pulled.

But what really gets me going is that the people who uploaded these files absolutely knew how bad the reaction to the One Piece leak was. There is no question that these files were uploaded to BitTorrent maliciously. If you just want to yuk it up that FUNimation hasn't fixed its security issues, why not just pass around the URL-- giving them the opportunity to then correct the mistake instead of ensuring that the downloads remain viable by taking it out of FUNimation's control? No, this was done specifically to make things difficult for the localizer.

Look, I try to make it a point not to be a preacher or a cop here. If you don't want to be a part of the fun legally, that's your decision. But ruining it for everyone else just because you don't like dubs or didn't like the way XYZ company translated something or because those Dragon Ball fans annoy you? Get a life.

G*d d*mn I hope the people doing this get prosecuted to the maximum extent of the law. Also, Funimation is flopping hard with their inability to protect their digital I.P.'s.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Shame on both the hijackers and FUNi at this point. :\

@DJTyrant: While it's still closer to 'stealing' than say 'breaking and entering,' the people who shared and downloaded the file via BitTorrent could still theoretically be prosecuted.

But first they have to be FOUND. And then FUNi has to decide that it wants to go through with a lawsuit. No company wants to be the first to sue fans, especially since it's not financially beneficial at all, since fans never have any money and lawsuits are expensive. They may not have a choice this time around though-- the message may be more important.

Something tells me FUNimation's web developers need to take a look at their servers. I'm thinking they probably have some weak passwords for certain areas that can be used as a gateway into the servers. They might also have problems with permissions; I know that having 777 can make files easier to manipulate.

Don't mind me, I'm just speculating. Sucks that this has happened, though.

I have to agree, how hard is it to not upload the episodes until it is time for the stream to start? If the episodes are not loaded, then people can't steal them.

I'm not defending those who are doing this as it is clearly wrong of them, but Funi really should have figured out by now that if they leave the episodes out there, people will try to get at them. Although, in the case of Fullmetal I don't think it's as big of a deal as it already aired in Japan, and better quality torrents have been up since Sunday anyway.

...How did they not fix this yet..?

Damn haxers.

2 things.

1) I really hate to say this, but we all know it's true: It's the internet, this kind of stuff happens. :(

2) Would you believe that they posted the new episode of FMA:B EARLY?! Yeah, I'm watching it right now. What's going on at FUNi?

Rightly or wrongly, I think there's a certain part of the anime community that treats Funi with some....how can I say it, suspicion? Mistrust? The fact they threatened certain fansubbing groups with legal action recently will obviously have evoked some immature wrath, plus Funi are dominating the distribution market these days, and the fact they often - for very very understandable commercial reasons - tend to go for the more obvious products has caused some resentment, I think.

Lets also not forget that not ALL of us anime fans live in the US - and if you don't, due to the licences many of the those streams are barred (or so I believe).

None of this is an excuse of course...but it is perhaps a partial explanantion...