Game of Thrones fans had been waiting for a year for the premiere of season five on April 12th. A few hours before the first episode of the new season was due to air, the first four episodes were leaked online. Torrents spread like wildfire and even though the leaked files were in measly 480p, many were quick to download those episodes and get their Game of Thrones fix. They better watch out now because HBO is coming.
HBO has reportedly sent “thousands” of warnings to internet users who were involved in the sharing of leaked Game of Thrones episodes. The cable giant is merely sending out warnings now possibly in hopes that it might deter them from downloaded leaked episodes in the future, if they were to emerge once again.
Periscope streams also didn’t go down with HBO, and it views the service as a potential tool for piracy, and it went after the operators of those streams as well.
HBO also sent notices to ISPs with its anti-piracy partner IP-Echelon to contact their subscribers who were involved in the sharing of the leaked episodes, “and take steps to prevent the subscriber from further downloading or uploading HBO content without authorization.”
ISPs were also advised to disconnect accounts of subscribers found to be repeatedly infringing on the cable giant’s rights by illegally sharing content.
Game of Thrones is perhaps the most lucrative HBO production and clearly it’s willing to pull out all the stops to curtail piracy, but doesn’t seem to have worked, Game of Thrones is actually the most pirated show across the globe.