Anime pirate sites are still being targeted in 2023 despite the fact it doesn’t solve the root cause of piracy in the first place. As mentioned in my previous article about why people pirate.
In today’s news, the Chinese authorities shut down a major Japanese anime pirate site that was operating out of China.
And it goes even further than just that.
4 suspects arrested in connection to anime pirate site
“According to CODA, the website in question is b9good, which it says began operations in 2008 under a different name. The association also says the website, which went offline Monday, was one of the largest online sources of pirated anime, and that its Japanese-language interface meant that around 95 percent of users were accessing it from Japan.”
Similar to websites like KissAnime before coming to an end, b9good has been around for a long time (2008) but has only now been shutdown.
I’d put this down to the changes In Japan’s copyright law back in 2021. Ever since this date they’ve become more aggressive in requesting sites be shut down, including those in different countries outside of Japan.
“Between March 2021 and February this year, b9good was accessed more than 300 million times, and the suspect living in Chongqing appears to have netted between 120 and 140 million yen ($920,000 to $1.07 million) in profits, CODA said.
Major Japanese entertainment firms, including TV Tokyo Corp., Toei Animation Co., and Toho Co., as well as public broadcaster NHK were among the companies that asked CODA to take legal action against the site.”
You can bet a lot of that money if not all of it has been handed to the authorities, which “supposedly” will go back into the anime or
Sarcasm, obviously. Despite the arguments of piracy hurting the industry, none of these actions will benefit the industry at all in the grand scheme of things.
Back in February 2023, they reached 11M visitors (estimated) and around 40M visitors (estimated) in the last 3 months alone.
As is the case these days, any pirate anime sites that have a substantial following are targets, and only the ones who obscure their identity to the highest level will escape the authorities, as is the case with 9Anime and others (so it seems).
When trying to access b9good’s website, it says (translated):
“Feel sorry! This site has been stopped by the administrator, please contact the administrator for details!”
Or in other words, it’s official. The website won’t be coming back, and the 4 arrested individuals will face punishment.
The Content Overseas Distribution Association (CODA) is responsible for setting all of this in motion.
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Source: Kyodo News
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