So since late afternoon yesterday, friends, readers, and countrymen have been forwarding this message that was posted on Facebook by someone we’ve featured once here on Techzim. His name is Luke Alvin Madzedze (this Luke from back in his 2011 students days). Part of his message goes:
Are you sick of buying movies in the streets YET you own a Laptop?
Are u sick of buying the Latest PC Software and Game DVDs at Crazy prices yet its just a burnt DVD?
Do u love love downloading BUT you never have enough Bandwidth or its just painfully slow to download a simple Movie?LOOK NO FURTHER…INTRODUCING yFlix….., Zimbabwe’s First DOWNLOAD HOTSPOT
….
No internet is involved our local servers store EVERYTHING you need, Movies, Video Clips, Software and GAMES
Since all content is stored LOCALLY it means download speeds for huge files is MUCH MUCH faster than anything you have ever seen in Zimbabwe (Download your favorite Latest Movie in less than 2 minutes).
…..and the best part the prices.
Movies are FREE (Believe it or not)
All Software is sold @ 0.33 cents( Regardless of version, size, usefulness or popularity)
All Videos are sold @ 0.33 cents( Regardless of size or popularity)
All GAMES are sold @ 0.33 cents( Regardless of version, size or popularity) [full message here]
Yes. We were immediately concerned about piracy too, and usually services that appear to trample on copyright issues, we may even try to avoid writing about them, lest we promote that which hurts content creators. But it has the opportunity to be a new variation of Jack Sparrow (not that one, this one) and Jack Sparrow was a big deal, something this has a potential to be. Plus that’s it’s someone we’ve covered here before with so much promise. So we just went ahead.
But we got in touch with him to hear out how they are approaching the potentially explosive legal side of this new venture. Just legal alone of course. The ethical side is something you can’t discuss when someone’s already into it. You can only tell them you think its wrong. He says he consulted a lawyer on the matter and was told he cannot be sued by anyone but the owner of the content, and that they are going to be pirating non-African content which is hard to police for the content owners.
Here’s part of his response:
The lawyers who drafted the document concluded that AS LONG AS u are in Zimbabwe… and u DONT do local content, u are close to untouchable, that’s why no one is sued when caught selling international movies, PC Games, Software in the streets.
We are not going to be doing only local content until we pen down agreements with local bodies to distribute local content. Our goal is to end up doing local content such as local movies using a pay per view structure. We also want to end up doing local apps and software as our platform is a store in its own right.
We might start off with churches, so that we can pay royalties to the owners of the content PROPERLY. We want to promote local MUSICIANS, APP DEVELOPERS,MOVIE PRODUCERS…..but that is in the long run. Our main focus now is to get the attention using international content
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wow, talk about shameless
Android App 13 october
If* you go through with this, You get 5 points for the stark, unapologetic, wreckless brazenness of it all. -100 points on planning ahead (or lack thereof): I hope your lawyer gave the relevant advice on international law, w.r.t extradition. There is a very long list of countries in the northern hemisphere you shouldn’t visit. ever.
*I’m not discounting this is just an attention-seeking, “guerrilla-marketing” / “viral-whatever” stunt. If so, you only get -10 imaginary points from me, for lack of originality.
good luck with that dude, i doubt you’ll get very far with it but i’ll sit back, wait and see
Iam already far enough….
this is an exampled of a “white collared thief”. nothing more, nothing less
YES……Iam so what will u do about it…hahahahah
oh you’ll get whats coming to you, no doubt about that
ndezvako izvo
so where exactly is this service located?
Just updated the article with a link to the full message by Alvin which has the location of the service, here: https://www.facebook.com/lukey…
wrong Luke
https://www.facebook.com/yflixzimbabwe
Interesting. This was inevitable given the state of ip enforcement here. That said, do you, uhm, like know where this magic fountain is?
Just updated the article with a link to the full message by Alvin, which is here: https://www.facebook.com/lukeyflix/posts/667427009935094
message is gone.
Direct link to page https://www.facebook.com/yflixzimbabwe
I WOULD LIKE TO UNDERSTAND WHY TECHZIM IS ENCOURAGING SUCH PATHETIC COMMENTS MADE BY THIS YOUNG MAN LUKE? ? DISGRACEFUL
kungogadzira kaPage ne Joomla maaakuda kutonzi ma Hacker…kkkkkkkk
AND techzim never encouraged anything……wen u called me an a**hole was that something nice…….i wud ask the author the same thing abt your comments…….of which i never swore at u….I TOLD U blunt facts…and expressed how i feel…if that is a crime THEN myt as well shutdown the comments section..But u on the other hand is swearing…that shuld not be ryt i think……Go make cofee or something…get a life..why do u care so much abt my life……….LEAVE ME ALONE ….iam not interested in u in anyway…lol
Just slow to react. We get inundated sometimes…
techzim has ads, such an article bring ’em eyeballs which translates to dollars. now, what was your question again?
Quite the contrary. Police do make raids when mandated to. They confiscate the equipment as well as any media from the facilities if a report is made. Remember Zimbabwe is a signatory to the WIPO, and has to ascribe to laws that respect intellectual property. If he distributes any mainstream enterprise applications and the BSA is still operational in Zim,then he’s just dug himself into a pile of fresh,warm sewage.
The audacity to actually, publicly justify it as a means to a business is amazing.
What he may have missed about current distribution of pirated stuff through torrents and filesharing sites is that they just facilitate the sharing of the material. THEY DO NOT directly source and provide the pirated material. A thin line that has seen Rapidshare and other filesharing sites escaping prosecution. But what this clever fool is doing is INTENTIONAL DISTRUBUTION.
Thanks for the pertinent info @99cc7ce3550f7e6b3e22161a5bcdb561:disqus!
kkkk Tin Woman
so many international laws we don’t implement worse this one yu are talking about!
This is what is killing Zimbabwe innovation and business, even the big guys when they get free land and loans they still want to operate like vendors who sell off wares in front of legally operating supermarkets selling the same thing. Here we have learned programmers who instead of innovating a solution to PIRACY, they are busy riding illegal operations (globally), this is a global erra promising madzedze.
You know why Jobs made a break with itunes and ipod, he created a solution against piracy through itunes for his ipod while other mp3 makers did not mind where you get the stuff you play.
come on let us be legal guys, we are in a global erra, use those brains for something better not cheap attention that might cost you in the long run.
Thanks..but we are not stoppin…..#Sorry
this will make zim online entreprenuers be painted shameless, while other African countries are innovating with hubs etc we want to become another china (replicas of genuine items like samsung smartphones)
another china, china is a GIANT economy , we should try to be like them. if Zimbabwe could replicate samsung phones it would actually be a gamechanger for our economy
Fool! Samsung is from Korea not China.
Muzivi, Zim Inov8 meant if ‘we could replicate Samsung phones LIKE China does’, not that Samsung is FROM China. Tone down the abuse.
I am sorry for being right!!
chill dude , who said Samsung is from China. take it easy man
I’m not for “replicating” but “building-on” but i want to point out that Muzivi is one of those peeps who try to validate their perceived superior intelligence by trying to point out something they know even if the situation does not warrant it. he knows what you meant. Its all in the name “Muzivi”. such people need to be ignored for progress sake
i like the idea, if he doesnt touch local content then…..
its an issue of ethics/moral fibre here. if its wrong its wrong, we should not do it period. not because he is “untouchable”. This is one of the reasons why we cannot advance as a nation. “sme do wrong bcz they feel they are untouchable” if we accept this then somewhere down the line, we will also condone tribalism, racism theft and murder”….in instances were culprits are “untouchable”
Keep Calm…#KeepTheTalk4YourKIds
you are right maBlanco but ma1 ndeimwe iya iya
Here is our problem with piracy. It’s okay to rip off international content but not local content is like saying it’s okay to rape dark skin girls but not light skin girls. CRIME IS CRIME!
i will stop yflix the day we are compensated for slave trade..right now our continent is suffering from poverty …hiv and global warming……..are these idiots going to give us back what they stole from us and used it to build their economies….or they are just going to bring in aid..when they feel like……….was SLAVE TRADE ETHICAL………was colonizing Africa ethical…
You have a solid argument but I believe your course of action leaves something to be desired. Were you repossessing land hey man… but “stealing movies”? Not even books, movies.
Fact of the matter is you are doing it and you’ve obviously thought this out. Why argue with words when action speaks so much more. Do you.
Let’s call a spade a spade here… This guy has turned into a criminal, a shameless criminal and with his activity he will tear down our already disfigured image.
I, personally, will commit to helping the large companies to take him down. Enterprises have South African offices and it really is not difficult to catch him. I’l wait until he becomes relevant, but trust you me… under no circumstances whatsoever will i condone criminal activity and I am fortunate enough to be close to the people who can deal with him.
Because his facebook post got noticed by Techzim? Don’t just stop at the low hanging fruit otherwise it’ll look like a vendetta, plenty of (bigger) fish in our bay of pirates called Zimbabwe.
Taura hako
I don’t know the guy, couldn’t care less but I think making an example out of him would send out a message. Their is a difference between file sharing via torrents and intentional distribution. On request, any local police whose government adheres to WIPO can arrest an individual for violating copyright and distribution law. This guy’s acts count for intentional distribution and honestly judging from the tone of his responses to other folks in the comments above, i think he would be good game. Living testimony if I may call it.
He says he has a good lawyer, I hope he does and that the lawyer is actually good.
Save this for u kid…u know were to find me..Try your luck buddy….but dont be suprised if YOU end up in trouble yourself…for poking your nose in the wrong places
iwe chirau – don’t act as if you have even ONE original DVD or software disk. You also buy ma dollar-dollar movies in town like everyone else, now you want to act like a saint. If you do not “condone criminal activities” then why are street vendors of pirated disks still alive and well on the streets of Harare. Pfusteke!
Looks like your guy is cleaning up his act hey. Lol
(Head bowed down) Forgive them Father, for he knows not what he is doing!
Back to reality. My friend tozviziva kuti ndokurarama kwenyu but you are bringing unnecessary attention to your self. And if you grow big enough you can be sued even from across the Atlantic Pond
I dont care
Inga chaka zungaira….uri busy kurasa muswe and then you have the nerve to comment back on each and every one of our comments
so this is the procedure guys. i dont know about you, but having 3rd party apps installed on my laptop in exchange for free stuff sounds dodgy.
“Connect to the Wi-Fi named yFlix_Free_Movies which is at Adventure Island Joina City 2nd Floor. Our team will install a small piece of software called yflix Download Manager on your Laptop which will give you all the available content and options to download”
Could be a nice way of building up a botnet in Zimbabwe
I see he has decided to turn over to the dark side……… http://www.techzim.co.zw/2011/03/zim-university-student-develops-business-apps-working-on-virus-software/
so what
Well… this is very interesting, visiting news.google.com and reading the zimbabwe edition links to this page and article. If i was him i would be rather careful about the distribution of content and software..lets see Microsoft has reps here so do other software companies. Beyond that I would also be really worried about his security. I am going to install a virtual machine on my ubuntu notebook and hopefully provide a list of the content etc. by end of day tomorrow along with my findings.
Bless! Please do, would like to see this but I’m too far
The best of luck on that mate…
The legal side of his story seems to flawed in the sense that big entertainment companies such as in U.S.A have agreements with local entertainment companies for marketing and distributing which allows them to sue anyone infringing that work which they are distributing. As a result the local entertainment company has enforceable copyright(s) and has locus standi to take the Jack Sparrow in our case, to court and sue him or her there. So as long as there is an agreement with a local distributor be it software, music, movies or books even, that local distributor has the capacity to sue this sudo-named Jack Sparrow guy of ours.
true. if Shrek 4 is showing at the movies and these guys are giving it for free at their shop then thats a problem.
The saddest part is a lot of Zimbabweans will actually support this initiative. I wonder how he gets the content legal downloads or via illegal torrents. If it’s the latter then this is a case of stealing John’s phone which costs $30 and sell it to Peter for $5. Please fellow Zimbos let us not support this criminal activity we are way better than this…
Yes they will……Thats good for business
This is just illegal – full stop – Luke Alvin Madzedze – they gon take to the Hague/Chikurubhi with what you have started.
Public display of criminal activity! who are these lawyers?
We dont care mate……Jus go to sleep….mate…coz when u wake up yFlix will still be here
dude u are just reckless as a “business man”. Why don’t you just shut the *** up and let people say what they think about your product and then maybe, just maybe, you can learn from them. Arrogance does not get you anywhere in business.
isay #KeepTheTalk4YourKIds
Dont be rude now. Most of this is advice. You would do well to heed before someone else decides to report you. Comments are nothing compared to the dangerous liability you have just placed yourself into. Your claimed lawyer is actually clueless and if he’s practising CAN BE DISBARRED.
Dare to mention his name.
The worst part of it is that you are self-implicating yourself by responding in support of your activities. All self-inflicted with epic arrogance. Not even anonymously!
There are lots of Facebook pages that are used to front piracy, but that does not make them absolved from prosecution. Zim law and enforcement on piracy is not as relaxed as your ill-informed lawyer purports to know.
#KeepTheTalk4YourKIds
your very juvenile responses demonstrate what you are right now. since all these conversations are now publicly accessible and will be available for future reference. do not expect the local Tech community to have any respect for you going forward.
you have been given alot of valuable advice by people who have vastly more experience in the industry than you, but you’ve chosen rather to use hashtags on disqus like a 12 year old would. you’ve burned bridges with alot of people who could actually help and mentor you to run a legit and lucrative business.
and now people know your full name, the exact location of where you run your business from. and basically your history as a failed software engineer who once had great potential. good luck regaining your reputation in zim!
yawn….i wish i cared….Techzim is just an irrelavant small blog compared to what can be achieved in this world….PLUS…i have plenty of eggs in my basket of TOTALLY unique and useful ideas that can change this Zimbabwe and Africa…#WE WILL SEE#WE WILL SEE#WE WILL SEE..yes iam a kid…SOOOO WHAAAT…#FutiFutiIHashTagAllIWant
wow… bite that hand that just fed you a load of free PR much?
YES my company is going to be stealing from the western world…ONLY because no one ever stood trial for colonizing and stealing from my beloved Africa..You are fools to defend the people STOLE from our continent and Intentionally brought us backwards forever………yFlix is not going to stop…..Mucharutsa nekusvotwa coz Unfortunately NDEZVENYIKA izvi…..there is not much u can do………Android App going to be released 13 October……believe me patakatsika tinoziva…so dont waste your time this is not USA..smell the coffee
pathetic, shameless, un-couch and ill-advised. You need to grow up.
pathetic is you
Word of advice. I really hope that you have a high paying job and you will never have a need to work for the likes of EWZ, lTZ, Telecel, KPMG, Financial instutions, NGO’s
if i end up working for those guys i wud have failed…….
Well, I take that as a challenge. I will take you down brother. I will report you App to Google, I will submit your name and activities to all news editors including herald. I will write to the local offices responsible for trade and intellectual property. And I will lose nothing.
You, my friend, will regret. Just respond to me with that same arrogance and sizakufunda emaphepheni mfanyana
shut tha ***** up
well homie, i hope you like jail and male genitalia. because thats where you’ll be living soon. you are such a waste of genuine talent.
iam not gay like some of us..and iam not your talent
Mufana Luke,you need to grow up fast.I have read all your childish comments and i must say i feel sorry for you as a fellow Zimbabwean.When people are making negative comments,we call it Contructive comments cause you can use them around yur business model to build a better platfom
You need to listen to people and make appropiate comm ents when neccessary than to act as if you have made a million dollars.Im a Ethical Hacker based in UK and can simply take down your site at a click of a button anytime so just a word of advice young man,listen to people first and take advice.I want to see you making a success on your future projects but you really need to sort your personality.Grow up! !
u are an ethical hacker………iam also one…but remove the ethical part :P………..and handisi mfana wako #myfb
Ok,i hear you young man.Im going to guarrantee you that your site will not see the light of day.From now on,i will not make any more comments,but will take action.
I have all the details that i need so watch out.Im going to sink all your projects unless you talk to Techzim maybe so that they can apologise on your behalf since you have arrogance.You call yourself a businessman ??? Businessman my black arse.
Haaaa do what u wat u can bro…….and from what i gather u are just a wanna be..a true hacker wud have picked up that i dont even have a site…….ungade kundi threatener on my own project…….if i fail is it any of ur concern..if i get jailed is that any of your concern,………and you have no idea who u are dealing with…………..ma Excel hackers munonetsa..u are probably an accountant…kkkkkkkk
I know you dont have a site,thats why i said it will not see a light of day,,when its created that is….asshole
slow pork…….do u even know how to spell you name Mr Excel Hacker…….kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk….No wonder u cant even display it………..ka door tea
Epic arrogance,i have warned you once young man.Dont take me lightly..
to hell with you
take this message as a warning…dare u reveal ur name
the next big thing
Funny how the people taking the moral “high ground” here and bashing Luke for this service are probably some of the biggest pirates amongst us. I wish these people would just stop wining. I’d support this service if I was in Zim. Remember Napster? It got the same negative reaction you people are giving here yet it started a paramount revolution in the music distribution industry. Pitty how Zimbos cry foul that there’s no real push for innovation and at last when there is innovation you quickly cry trying to defend the big corportations that really don’t care about you.
if you passed thru school and did something called ETHICS, you wouldnt say this. There is a difference between doing right and doing what everyone is doing.
You are a sheep.
Do you even know how Napster worked? Did it distribute or facilitate? Do you know the difference?
People do consume pirated material. But to source and distribute it. Publicly with zero-anonymity is epic stupidity.
Yawn.
and remember what happened to napster?
Luke waomesa dhara. i wishu well buddy and i hope ur business logic rewards ur intellectual investment exponentially.
one wonders what you could achieve with adequate funding & legal advice…
I support Luke on this one , people need to take the chill pill and stop condemning him as if he is stealing from you or anyone , the greatest crime on earth was the slave trade and until Europe and America pay reparations to Africa Aluta continua !!!!!!
Thanks bro!!!! God Bless you…yFlix is not going to stop. i will stop yflix the day we are compensated for slave trade..right now our continent is suffering from poverty …hiv and global warming……..are these idiots going to give us back what they stole from us and used it to build their economies….or they are just going to bring in aid..when they feel like……….was SLAVE TRADE ETHICAL………was colonizing Africa ethical…..
What if all this publicity is ALL part of the plan…..are u sure u know our business strategy…….We are not fools…..But thanks TechZim.com for cutting down on our advertising costs……in 2 days the whole nation knows about yFlix…our page is growing like a veld fire…….As we said, our platform is an e-store over Wi-Fi.(that is kinda broad dont u think)…..you are giving us EXACTLY what we want…now that we have the audience…..I SAY lets move on to the 3 phase of this project…MORPH it into a totally legal platform…what more do we need..Social Media is buzzing with our name………But just to irritate some individuals……i call to run this service for a bit longer than what we planned………Coz Zimbos Jembi ndoo rinonetsa…hapana anoda kuona mumwe achibudirira…….Manje you fell for it……Do u think iam dumb…..I wanted publicity FULL STOP……Watch this space!!!!
Mufana Luke,you need to grow up fast.I have read all your childish comments and i must say i feel sorry for you as a fellow Zimbabwean.When people are making negative comments,we call it Contructive comments cause you can use them around yur business model to build a better platfom
You need to listen to people and make appropiate comm ents when neccessary than to act as if you have made a million dollars.Im a Ethical Hacker based in UK and can simply take down your site at a click of a button anytime so just a word of advice young man,listen to people first and take advice.I want to see you making a success on your future projects but you really need to sort your personality.
u are an ethical hacker………iam also one…but remove the ethical part :P………..and handisi mfana wako
u need to grow up sonny. zvekuda kutukana nevanhu pa ma interwebs hazvina kwazvino kusvitsa.
Techzim, you have just given this guy more publicity and back links…job well done, this is what l call supporting local content…in just 2 days luq is known on the biggest tech magazine in zim AGAIN!!!!
yFlix is not going to stop. i will stop yflix the day we are compensated for slave trade..right now our continent is suffering from poverty …hiv and global warming……..are these idiots going to give us back what they stole from us and used it to build their economies….or they are just going to bring in aid..when they feel like……….was SLAVE TRADE ETHICAL………was colonizing Africa ethical…Call me Childish..call me unethical..Its my life..i will live it the way i see fit….save the talk for ur kids..
yes its illegal and ethically wrong no matter what way you look at it
Luke you are forgetting quite a few things here:
Facebook is a US company – they are bound by US laws to take down your page if a media company in the US submits a DMCA takedown request to them
Google is the operator of the android play store which again is a US company and can remove your app in an instant if again a media company submits a DMCA takedown request to them
Your lawyer has misadvised you massively! you are still liable to get sued
and to try and compare it to slave trade/colonizing africa thats just disgusting – slave trade/colonisation was brutality in its finest forms its like comparing apples to pears
just because “the west” were the biggest slave traders in there day and colonised every country under the sun does not give anyone the right to steal from someone else especially when that someone else had no involvement in the atrocities of the past
i for one hope that the plug gets pulled quickly as it gives zimbabwe a blatant bad name
and you wonder why the US films are slow to come to Africa in the first place…
cant wait to see the plug pulled…..kkkkkkkk……..I loving the support iam getting from zimbos tho…….#KeepTheTalk4YourKIds
Ladies and Gentlemen, Introducing…. Zimbabwe’s own…. KIM DOT COM (without the millions)
Big up Luke, most of these guys commenting here are busy downloading torrents, distributing the software to friends and family some even making money installing pirated copies of software on client’s machines but they dare to say shame on you Luke, i say shame on you for acting like you purely use genuine software. But to Luke just be careful bro.
Thanks a lot bro..God Bless you…I hate hypocrites and i can see u feel the same……..Wish u the best in whatever u do…Thanks for the advice iam working on the mathematics of the strategy..Express YOURSELF mate…lyf is too short.
Thief, we’re coming for you!
Let the person who has not sinned cast the first stone. Guys its a known fact that piracy is the order of the day in Zimbabwe, this guy has only come out in the open and its really cool because he will soon start engaging with relevant stakeholders in legalising his business. If you remember the story of napster you would agree that this opened up talks with record companies otherwise piracy had been happening then uncontrolled. If I were to have genuine copies for all the softwares, music, videos that I own I think I would have filed for bankruptacy a long time ago.
[…] actually present in order for a pirate to be convicted. Perhaps this is what the owner of Yflix was talking about when he said his lawyers had advised him to avoid local content only. It would be difficult […]
It’s 8 months since the article was published and since all those people commented threatening to bring down Luke and yFlix. He’s still around. So either those guys lacked the balls to follow through on their threats or that his legal advice is actually sound.
As for me, I applaud Luke for his gutsy brazenness. I wholeheartedly agree with his point that he is stealing from those who stole from us. Maybe not the same individuals who enslaved and colonized us, but no doubt those people benefited from those actions immensely and continue to benefit from the present day neo-colonial system. No form of reparations or compensation for the damage done to us is forthcoming and I feel it’s reasonable for individuals like Mr Madzedze to take what they can. Of course stealing is still stealing, regardless of the justification, but killing (in the context of a liberation war) is also still killing, so the moral arguments against Mr Madzedze don’t really hold water with me. If you’re going to condemn him, then you should also condemn those who resorted to “treason”, sabotage, killing, stealing weapons and violating numerous laws in order to defeat colonial governments.
Luke Alvin Madzedze, you sir are a hero and I support you 100%!
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