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HBO goes after Game of Thrones pirates with takedown notices

HBO’s hugely successful Game of Thrones has consistently topped lists as being one of the most torrented series ever since it started six seasons ago. There is a reason for that: it’s one of the most watched shows ever.

While unauthorised copies will always be found online, HBO is going after downloaders pretty hard for the new season, which is already three episodes in.

The network has once again tapped anti-piracy partner IP Echelon to crack down on pirates, and over the last couple of days, it has apparently been sending out warnings to internet service providers (ISPs) if it suspects a user downloaded an episode illegally.

Game of Thrones

“As the owner of the IP address, HBO requests that [ISP] immediately contact the subscriber who was assigned the IP address at the date and time below with the details of this notice, and take the proper steps to prevent further downloading or sharing of unauthorized (sic) content and additional infringement notices,” part of the warning reads.

HBO also offers a legal alternative.

“We also encourage you to inform the subscriber that HBO programming can easily be watched and streamed on many devices legally by adding HBO to the subscriber’s television package,” it said.

According to TorrentFreak, ISPs in the US don’t legally have to forward the mails onto to the offending user.

“Legally, ISPs are not obligated to forward these emails, which are sent as a DMCA notification, but many do. In any case, HBO doesn’t know the identity of the alleged pirates, so there are no legal strings attached for the subscribers in question,” it wrote.

TorrentFreak has also noted that the torrent has been removed from popular pirating sites like KickAssTorrents.

In April last year, the first four episodes of season five got leaked online and set a piracy world record: within just a few of hours of the leak, the file had been downloaded over a million times.

[Image – CC by 2.0/tricks ware]

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