Odex's actions against file sharing were legal actions against
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and their subscribers in
Singapore by
Odex, a
Singapore-based company that virtually distributes sub-licensed
Japanese anime. From early 2007 to January 2008 Odex took action against anyone who had downloaded anime through
BitTorrent for alleged
copyright infringement. Odex tracked their
IP addresses without their consent and sought
subpoenas to compel the ISPs to disclose the personal details of these subscribers. After rulings from the
Subordinate Courts, Odex took personal data from affected ISPs and sent letters demanding payment in place of litigation. More than a third of the individuals contacted by Odex opted to
settle out of court for at least
S$3,000 (
US$2,000) to S$5,000 (US$4,000) each. The Singaporean anime community considered Odex's actions to be controversial, sudden, and heavy-handed—especially when it was discovered that the youngest person threatened was nine years old. In response, Odex dropped its pay-or-be-sued letter approach in favor of
cease-and-desist emails to
downloaders. Odex halted active enforcement after its third subpoena was rejected by the courts and lost a lawsuit when trying to obtain customer data from another ISP. In January 2008, Odex appealed the decision, and the
High Court of Singapore ruled that one ISP was required to release data, but only directly to Japanese anime studios. Subsequently, these studios started their own legal actions against Singaporean downloaders. Some observers predicted that the High Court's decision would set a
precedent for online privacy in Singapore by making it more difficult for copyright licensees to take legal action against downloading. The case raised issues of individual privacy, intellectual property, and free use of the Internet. Odex's actions attracted widespread criticism in Singapore and international attention and press coverage, which coincided with similar actions against
consumer file sharing of music in the United States.
The following are images from various freedom of speech-related articles on Wikipedia.
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Image 1In Brazil,
freedom of assembly and expression are Constitutional rights. (from
Freedom of speech by country)
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Image 2Laws against holocaust denial 2025 (from
Freedom of speech)
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Image 3This 1688 edition of
Jacobus de Voragine's
Golden Legend (1260) was censored according to the
Index Librorum Expurgatorum of 1707, which listed the specific passages of books already in circulation that required censorship. (from
Freedom of speech)
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Image 4De Schreeuw (The Scream) is a memorial commemorating
Theo van Gogh and a symbol of the freedom of speech. (from
Freedom of speech by country)
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Image 5An "unexpurgated" edition of
Lady Chatterley's Lover (1959) (from
Freedom of speech)
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Image 6Eleanor Roosevelt and the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). Article 19 states that "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." (from
Freedom of speech)
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Image 8Map showing U.S. states where
anti-BDS legislation has passed, is pending, or has failed as of November 2023 (from
Freedom of speech by country)
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Image 9Protesters exercise freedom of speech to hold a vigil in front of the Zimbabwean Embassy in London, 2005. (from
Freedom of speech by country)
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Image 12A map of countries which have lèse-majesté laws as of January 2023 (from
Freedom of speech)
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Image 13
Blasphemy laws abolished Subnational restrictions
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Fines and restrictions Prison sentences Death sentences
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(from
Freedom of speech)
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Image 14Russian opposition politician
Ilya Yashin was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison for discussing the
Bucha massacre in Ukraine on a
YouTube stream. (from
Freedom of speech by country)
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Image 15The
Bill of Rights 1689 grants the
parliamentary privilege for freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in
Parliament and is still in effect. (from
Freedom of speech by country)
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Image 16George Orwell statue at the headquarters of the
BBC. A defence of free speech in an open society, the wall behind the statue is inscribed with the words "If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear", words from
George Orwell's proposed preface to
Animal Farm (1945). (from
Freedom of speech)
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Image 17Article 299's prosecution have surged during
Erdogan's presidency. (from
Freedom of speech by country)
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Image 18Punk band
Visací zámek which composed a popular song "
The President Is a Faggot" about
Václav Klaus, 2003–2013 Czech President (from
Freedom of speech by country)
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Image 19Local issues are often the subject of free speech. (from
Freedom of speech by country)
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Image 20The
Free Speech Flag was created during the
AACS encryption key controversy as "a symbol to show support for personal freedoms". (from
Freedom of speech)
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Image 21Restriction of apostasy by country (2020) (from
Freedom of speech)
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Image 22Orthodox priest Libor Halík with a group of followers. Halík has been chanting daily for over five years against abortion via megaphone in front of a maternity hospital in
Brno,
Moravia. (from
Freedom of speech by country)
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Image 23In
Panegyricae orationes septem (1596), Henric van Cuyck, a Dutch Bishop, defended the need for
censorship and argued that
Johannes Gutenberg's printing press had resulted in a world infected by "pernicious lies"—so van Cuyck singled out the
Talmud and the
Qur'an, and the writings of
Martin Luther,
Jean Calvin and
Erasmus of Rotterdam. (from
Freedom of speech)
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Image 24A map of nations which have
Lèse-majesté laws as of January 2023 (from
Freedom of speech by country)
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Image 25Orator at London's
Speakers' Corner, 1974 (from
Freedom of speech)
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Image 26Title page of
Index Librorum Prohibitorum, or
List of Prohibited Books (Venice, 1564) (from
Freedom of speech)
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Image 27Moscow municipal deputy
Alexei Gorinov was sentenced to 7 years in prison under Russia's
war censorship laws for his
anti-war statements in 2022. (from
Freedom of speech by country)
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Image 28First page of
John Milton's 1644 edition of
Areopagitica, in which he argued forcefully against the
Licensing Order of 1643 (from
Freedom of speech)
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Image 29Permanent Free Speech Wall in
Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S. (from
Freedom of speech)
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Image 30A protest outside the
Saudi Arabian Embassy in London against detention of Saudi blogger
Raif Badawi, 2017 (from
Freedom of speech by country)
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