HBO sending warnings to people downloading Game of Thrones torrents

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Almost as big as the show’s fifth season premiere last week, Game of Thrones also found itself at the center of hundreds of news stories when the first four episodes of Game of Thrones season five leaked online. While millions of people watch Game of Thrones online legitimately, it is estimated that over 100,000 people downloaded the torrents in the first three hours, with it having been downloaded millions of time since.

Digital Trends is now reporting that HBO is going to send warnings to people who downloaded the torrent through DMCA. These people warned shouldn’t feel too worried about legal action being taken against them, as HBO won’t get a list of names of people who downloaded it.

Torrent Freak reports that HBO has gone to ISPs and requested that these warnings be sent with the following considerations:

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.

Broadly ambiguous, certainly, but once again, HBO won’t have direct access to the list of folks who have downloaded the leaked episodes; the warnings will come from the downloader’s ISPs. HBO hopes this warning will act as enough of a threat to prevent further torrenting.

It’s hard to determine how serious HBO is about going after the downloaders, as previously similar threats have largely gone unreported and un-escalated. But with Game of Thrones being a marquee offering, things could be different this time.

The Game of Thrones season five premiere pulled in an estimated 8 million viewers.