It scared me to death!
By solxee
@sol_cee (38219)
Philippines
September 8, 2018 4:16am CST
Illegal downloading of movies/TV series/stuff online is punishable by law in Japan. I don’t download anything but I watch movies and TV series on websites where you can view them for free. Some people say it’s illegal but then I thought the world is so big for authorized people to trace my location and handcuff me all the way to jail right? Then one day, a pop up appeared while I was watching The Resident on my favorite free online movie site. The pop up was all in red with the skull and bones symbol. I was so afraid for a moment that only the words ‘We know your IP address and we’ve been watching you’ registered on my brain. I automatically closed the tab and turned off my phone with trembling hands. Was that for real? Have you encountered this kind of pop up before? Anyway, I signed up for a Netflix account the next day after. Trying to be a good citizen now. lol
Photo is from Google.
18 people like this
21 responses
@bluesa (15022)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
8 Sep 18
@sol_cee I haven't watched a movie in a long time. I watch a few reality shows on t.v. now and again, I love watching Dancing shows. My favourites are "So You Think You Can Dance", "Strictly Come Dancing" and "Dancing On Ice" . What are your favourite shows to watch Sol-san?
1 person likes this
@ridingbet (66854)
• Philippines
13 Sep 18
so, you also watch the TV series The Resident? it is good, right?
i like it. season 1 is already done and i am waiting for season 2.
1 person likes this
@sol_cee (38219)
• Philippines
14 Sep 18
@ridingbet many things to be excited about.. Dr. AJ Austin and Mina’s sizzling chemistry for one. Hehe
1 person likes this
@ridingbet (66854)
• Philippines
14 Sep 18
@sol_cee i like Dr. Pravesh (or is that the Indian doctor's name?) good thing Melina Kanakaredes was arrested (that flirty lady doctor with curly hair) and Bruce Greenwood was replaced as the CEO of the hospital.
1 person likes this
@rsa101 (38166)
• Philippines
8 Sep 18
That is kind of weird that came out of your screen. I don’t think that government would do that to frighten people from doing that. But I am not from Japan so I don’t know much if that’s how they do things there. But I know here that a warning message do come out when you access an illegal site and the name of the agency is present. There are no skull and bones symbol popping out without any message.
1 person likes this
@rsa101 (38166)
• Philippines
12 Sep 18
@sol_cee Anyway I am suspecting it may be some sort of malware that would frighten you and even blackmail you to do payment of some sort else they will do some harm to your PC. Accessing sites that are supposed to be illegal sites thrives these sort of syndicates trying to probe users and later on phishing out information from you.
1 person likes this
@toniganzon (72281)
• Philippines
8 Sep 18
No I haven't seen such pop up at all. I have been using Netflix and iflix for over a year now.
1 person likes this
@toniganzon (72281)
• Philippines
8 Sep 18
@sol_cee I'm using Netflix USA account and some people I know from this country told me Netflix philippines don't have that many movies and series. So I think it varies per country or continent.
I use iflix sometimes. I don't actually watch movies with Netflix, I watch series.
1 person likes this
@sol_cee (38219)
• Philippines
8 Sep 18
@toniganzon That makes sense. I have Netflix Japan and some of the titles are in Katakana. :(
1 person likes this
@Mavic123456 (21893)
• Thailand
8 Sep 18
I have never experienced that. but that's right be safe than sorry. We don't know how the government is tracking our movements specially on line.
1 person likes this
@sol_cee (38219)
• Philippines
8 Sep 18
@sunrisefan scary! Did you feel the tremors?
1 person likes this
@SIMPLYD (90722)
• Philippines
10 Sep 18
I would also be scared if there is a warning like that and also knowing that illegal downloading of movies and other online stuff is punishable by law in Japan. What about posting fake news? Is it punishable too?
@ilocosboy (45156)
• Philippines
8 Sep 18
Very strict in your country, just watching the red skull appear. There are so many movies in youtube too, why they don't filter and close them.
1 person likes this
@rachz_kisses (3838)
• Philippines
9 Sep 18
What was that red skull means? One thing comes to mind was a virus. Did you scan your device for infections?... Just a thought.
@niceatma (17)
• Philippines
13 Sep 18
Illegal downloading is illegal not only in Japan but in other parts of the world too. Even here in the Philippines, there is a law, the anti-piracy law, that prohibits people from downloading movies illegally. It's just that the government does not strictly implement this law. The warning is made by VPN (Virtual Private Network) providers so that you will have to subscribe to their services and avoid being monitored by the government. With VPN, a different IP Address is registered and your original IP is not seen by the browser making it harder for law enforcers to trace the user's actual location.
@koopharper (7601)
• Canada
9 Sep 18
Yep. That would have scared me but in retrospect, I would be really suspicious of the legitimacy of a pop up like that. Displaying someone's IP address isn't that hard. I've seen a little widget someone was using as their signature on a site like this that would display it to anyone reading that page. It was more than a little disconcerting.
@RasmaSandra (79886)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
8 Sep 18
I think that was just some stupid scare tactic but if you feel better us Netflix. I watch series and movies on a free site too and I have never had any problems. Then again I am in the US so I do not know how it really is in Japan. Hope you are alright now.
@JudyEv (340118)
• Rockingham, Australia
9 Sep 18
It hasn't happened to me but I don't download much stuff at all.
