HBO sending notices to people who watched the leaked Game of Thrones episodes
HBO has sometimes taken Game of Thrones’ reputation as one of the pirated shows on the internet as a compliment. Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes once remarked that it was “better than an Emmy,” since it inspired so many new people to sign up for HBO subscriptions. Still, the network is clearly upset about the first four episodes of Season 5 leaking early, as it’s sent thousands of DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) notices in the hopes of stemming further piracy, according to Torrent Freak.
Though IP-Echelon, its anti-piracy partner, HBO sent DMCA notices to internet service providers (ISPs) asking them to relay warnings to people associated with IP addresses that had shared the pirated episodes. Here’s a sample of the notices:
“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.”
“2. Take appropriate action against the account holder under your Abuse Policy/Terms of Service Agreement.”
Ultimately, it’s up to the ISP to decide what to do, whether it be sending the alleged pirates a warning, disconnecting their accounts, or doing nothing. HBO doesn’t know the identities of any of the people who have shared the episodes, so they can’t threaten legal action, at least as things stand right now. The network is probably hoping that this will scare some people into not sharing the episodes in the future, although it’s anybody’s guess as to how well that’ll work. Still, if someone from HBO ever talks again about how the show’s popularity among pirates is a badge of honor, it’ll pay to remember that the network tried rather aggressively to stop it.
Piracy or no, HBO still pulled in record viewership for the Season 5 premiere of Game of Thrones, so maybe it shouldn’t be worrying. Then again, the premiere episode aired just after the leak, so it’ll be interesting to see whether viewership will take a hit now that the episodes have been floating around for a week.
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