Starhub ordered to reveal those who download videos illegally

A Singapore video distributor said Tuesday it has won a suit against an Internet service provider asking for the identities of customers alleged to have downloaded popular Japanese animated cartoons.

StarHub, a telecommunications, Internet and cable company, was ordered to reveal about 1,000 of its subscribers accused of downloading anime illegally. StarHub had earlier resisted Odex's efforts to obtain the data, citing an obligation to protect their customers' information.

Once Odex obtains the identities of the Internet users alleged to have downloaded the anime videos, the company will likely contact them and seek compensation of up to SG$5,000 (US$3,285) from each. The users will also have to destroy any stolen content and stop further illegal downloading.

According to Odex, Singapore's downloading situation is very bad. They have engaged companies to track illegal downloads in Singapore. The result shows that we're actually right up at the top in terms of the illegal downloads in the world, when Japanese animation is concern.

Odex earlier this year obtained a similar court order seeking the identities of about the same number of customers of Singapore Telecommunications Ltd.'s Internet service, SingNet. Those customers were also alleged to have downloaded anime.

The company will take more legal action later this week with a suit against a third Internet service provider, Pacific Internet, for the right to track down another 1,000 customers suspected of the same offense.

Odex, Singapore's main anime distributor, has seen a drop of 60-70 percent in sales in the past two years, largely due to an increase in downloads.