Japanese file purification project turns illicit files legit

It's never too surprising when Japan pops out a crazy idea.

Known as a technological innovator, cultural trendsetter and the epicenter of manga and anime, Japan often walks one step ahead of everyone else. Now, "combating piracy in a novel way" can be added to their already impressive résumé.

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Ken Akamatsu is spear-heading the effort, dubbed "Illegal (Out-of-Print) Manga File Purification Project."

The creator of the manga "Love Hina" and anime "Negima!: Magister Negi Magi," Akamatsu has a vested interest in seeing his plan succeed. Some of his own work is counted among the out-of-print content floating around file-sharing sites. However, he's relatively accepting of the fact pirates, well, pirate.

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"Everyone has done this at least once," Akamatsu said, taking an accepting if not practical stance on just how rampant file-sharing is among manga/anime fans.

Akamatsu encouraged fans to upload the specific files to his site J-Comi, a site he created last year to host out-of-print work for free viewing. Then, they will reach out to the creators behind the myriad work and, barring their disapproval, revise it by including new advertisements. The "purified" work will then be posted to J-Comi for all to view.

Akamatsu promised his site won't see a yen from the process, and that all profits garnered by the newly-included ads would go straight to the original creators.

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Considering how American companies tend to handle illegal file-sharing with shady amnesty offers and "pay up or else" ploys, this novel plan sounds almost too good to be true. Pirates (who, in this case anyway, are more super-fans than malicious thieves) just send in their unsanctioned content and soon find it available again for free with some minor alterations; no harm, no foul. (Via TorrentFreak)

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