If you downloaded and shared those leaked Game of Thrones episodes last week, you might be on HBO’s list. The pay cable network is sending out notices to nearly anybody that took a whiff of the four leaked season five episodes, even those who used VPN and aren’t actually receiving said messages. There is one group in particularly that HBO seems to be particularly focused on. From Torrent Freak:
While most piracy occurred through BitTorrent, HBO seemed mostly concerned with a few dozen people who watched a shoddy stream via Twitter’s Periscope. Behind the scenes, however, BitTorrent pirates were targeted as well.
Over the past week HBO sent out a flurry of takedown notices to those who shared the controversial leaks in public. TF has seen several notices, which all come in the standard format.
Now HBO doesn’t know the identity of the offenders, so there are no real legal risks as of now according to Torrent Freak. It would be up to the ISP to take the next step and essentially name names, but this is mainly a deterrent to ward others off from downloading the episodes. Here’s the statement being circulated:
“1. Contact the subscriber who has engaged in the conduct described above and take steps to prevent the subscriber from further downloading or uploading HBO content without authorization.”
In addition, ISPs may want to take additional measures such as disconnecting the accounts of repeat infringers.
“2. Take appropriate action against the account holder under your Abuse Policy/Terms of Service Agreement. (via)”
There’s also a selection of information attached, including the IP address and infringing file names. This is nothing new for HBO, but with Game of Thrones premiere getting higher attention than other shows and the leak being as substantial as it is, they’re being a bit more vigilant this time around.
So if you’re downloading the torrents, be careful. It seemed that consensus from last week’s post was that it would better to wait for the higher quality broadcasts, but temptation can be tough to deal with.
(Via Torrent Freak)
