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North Korean animation outsourcing for Amazon, HBO Max series

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Re: North Korean animation outsourcing for Amazon, HBO Max series

#71

They were animating stuff? For money? The thing that hits me the most about this, I think, is the depravity of it all.

The issue is the money is piped into the NK regime. The problem isn't that a North Korean did the work, but that it was done by a state-owned firm.

Re: North Korean animation outsourcing for Amazon, HBO Max series

#72

The real question is does North Korean let their animators work remote in a LOCL area.

Honestly if N Korea had a cheap/low-barrier remote visa it might be attractive. I would imagine having an oppressive authoritarian regime looking at you as a prime tax slave might mean none of the prols would risk getting their head chopped off to mess with you. Meanwhile labor/rent/food gotta be hella cheap.

North Korea is no stranger to famine, so if you want food it's probably not the best place to go.

Even for tourists who they are trying to extract lots of hard currency from, the food quality is notoriously poor.

Re: North Korean animation outsourcing for Amazon, HBO Max series

#73
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So all that's required would then just be to outsource it to a bunch of companies who then outsource it and then claim you have: "no knowledge"? You're the one outsourcing, so it's your responsibility. The entire chain.

Yeah, but "outsource it to a bunch of companies who then outsource it" is literally how the economy works. The most mundane product you can imagine has a network of upstream suppliers that is essentially incomprehensible in its complexity.

At some point maybe stop outsourcing and just do the work.

Boeing used to make airplanes. Now they outsource the work of "make the airplanes" and all it cost them was their reputation.

Less outsourcing, more just doing the work please.

Re: North Korean animation outsourcing for Amazon, HBO Max series

#75
The few times I was involved in some outsourcing the outsourcing company was contractually obliged to actually be the one doing the work. Not that folks might not cheat and get away with it, but there were financial implications and a somewhat close working relationship that meant that ... it would have been hard to fake.

In this case does the original company just not care at all?

Re: North Korean animation outsourcing for Amazon, HBO Max series

#76

When I saw the title, I immediately thought of the show "Invincible" which had abysmal animation, and lo and behold, its right there are the top of the list.

Our of curiosity why did you think Invincible had abysmal animation? Which is ironic since in the last seasons they even broke the fourth wall and did a tongue in cheek poke at their audience who criticize their animation quality explaining how they're under crunch and what techniques they use to cut corners. Quite clever actually.

Didn't think they were covering up their North Korean animators though lol.

Re: North Korean animation outsourcing for Amazon, HBO Max series

#77

The HN headline is more clickbaitey than the original article, which has a different headline and goes out if its way to point out that Amazon and HBO are likely not the ones doing the outsourcing to North Korea. > There is no evidence to suggest that the companies identified in the images had any knowledge that a part of their project had been subcontracted to North Korean animators. In fact, as the editing comments…

Not really. Outsourcing and then claiming ignorance is not a defense against financing North Korea.

Re: North Korean animation outsourcing for Amazon, HBO Max series

#78
This more than anything says why we need SORA AI now, and to replace these animators with AI. We cannot be allow to have reputable US firms engaging with a foreign adversary. Replacing these workers with AI should do the trick in this compliance snafu.

Re: North Korean animation outsourcing for Amazon, HBO Max series

#79

The real question is does North Korean let their animators work remote in a LOCL area.

Honestly if N Korea had a cheap/low-barrier remote visa it might be attractive. I would imagine having an oppressive authoritarian regime looking at you as a prime tax slave might mean none of the prols would risk getting their head chopped off to mess with you. Meanwhile labor/rent/food gotta be hella cheap.

Let's game it out.

You go there to work remotely. Food/labor/rest are super cheap.

Everyone is starving to death there, to the point where meth is casually used by most people to stave off hunger pangs.

Not to mention, if they decide they may just get some fun leverage out of a foreign hostage, they may just decide to claim you committed a crime and beat you half (or 3/4's) to death.

This is just the news stories I can recall off the top of my head as well...

Re: North Korean animation outsourcing for Amazon, HBO Max series

#80

The real question is does North Korean let their animators work remote in a LOCL area.

Honestly if N Korea had a cheap/low-barrier remote visa it might be attractive. I would imagine having an oppressive authoritarian regime looking at you as a prime tax slave might mean none of the prols would risk getting their head chopped off to mess with you. Meanwhile labor/rent/food gotta be hella cheap.

Wow you might want to document yourself a little bit.
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