Crunchyroll has faced backlash after voice actor David Wald revealed the company has been illegally opening and distributing his fan mail for the past five years, violating U.S. federal law regarding obstruction of correspondence. This revelation sparked widespread outrage, highlighting Crunchyroll’s questionable practices, including its monopoly over anime distribution in the West following its acquisition by Sony. Critics argue that Crunchyroll has become complacent, exemplified by the failure of its original content and a significant price increase for subscriptions. Furthermore, Wald’s situation underscores broader issues within the company, such as alleged discrimination against voice actors and a toxic work environment. Crunchyroll’s response has been inadequate, stating they are investigating the matter but failing to acknowledge their responsibility. This incident adds to the growing list of grievances against Crunchyroll, raising concerns about the treatment of voice actors and the future of anime distribution.
It will never cease to amaze me how people don’t understand the law. No opening that mail was not a federal crime, if it’s addressed to the business building than it is considered property of the business even if it has a specific person’s name on it. They are fully within their right to open the letter, is it a dick move and are they assholes? Yes, is it a federal crime? Absolutely not
I’d be curious to see a citation because everything I can find suggests it’s still obstruction of correspondence and a federal offense as they were not the intended recipient
The best citation I can give you at the moment is to have you ask your local Post office. I have before with mine and you can find many anecdotes of other people talking to their own post office and the answer you will generally get from the post office is that they deliver to an address and the owner of that address has the right to receive mail so when mailing to a business the business has the right to receive that mail even if it is somebody else’s name on the mail.
Technically it does violate a couple common laws depending on the situation. You can find an explanation at https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/tools/hr-answers/can-employers-open-employee-mail-sent-to-office
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