HBO Wages War on Game of Thrones Torrents

HBO isn’t best pleased that its stellar hit Game of Thrones is the most downloaded show ever, and has sent out thousands of copyright infringement warnings to anyone deemed to be sharing it online, plus requests to torrent sites to delete torrent and magnet links to any files deemed to be in violation of HBO’s intellectual property, according to TorrentFreak.

Below is sample of the warnings HBO has been sending out:

“We have information leading us to believe that the IP address [IP ADDRESS] was used to download or share Game of Thrones without authorization (additional details are listed below). HBO owns the copyright or exclusive rights to Game of Thrones, and the unauthorized or unknown content is also a security risk for computers, devices, and networks.

As the owner of the IP address, HBO requests that [SITE] 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 content and additional infringement notices.

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

Note that HBO claims that part of its reasoning for delivering these warnings is to protect “computers, devices, and networks” from potentially dangerous content, rather than simply protecting its profits (which is not necessarily something to be ashamed of). Aw, bless. Thanks, HBO.

While many users have ignored the warnings, KickassTorrents and Torrentz have both bowed to pressure and removed links to Game of Thrones torrents.

The third episode of Game of Thrones’ sixth season airs tonight, so tomorrow we’ll get a better picture of what effect HBO’s warning will have had on torrenters.