Game of Thrones Pirates, HBO Is Coming for You

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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HBO has had a pretty lenient stance toward users who pirate Game of Thrones as it airs or afterwards, HBO has looked the other way and written it off to good press. But when someone downloads and distributes four episodes in advance of their airing dates, enough is enough. HBO is taking action against these people through their respective ISP’s.

HBO has in the past condemned such practice, but it looks much more furious this time. The American premium cable and satellite television network has started to send out thousands of warnings to subscribers who had illegally obtained copies of 'Game of Thrones', and is asking their respective carriers to take severe actions.
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only way some one is getting eps ahead of time is inside HBO
maybe they should work on that first
 
hmm...

lets see.

how much money you going to spend to do this?

and what are the results?
 
Good for them, I may know a few people who were bragging on Facebook about discovering these early episodes that are going to be worried soon.
 
Elios said:
only way some one is getting eps ahead of time is inside HBO
maybe they should work on that first
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Those 4 episodes were available as press screeners. Someone with access to media uploaded it. If HBO is blindly going after people, that suggests it wasn't watermarked. oops.
 
pxc said:
Those 4 episodes were available as press screeners. Someone with access to media uploaded it. If HBO is blindly going after people, that suggests it wasn't watermarked. oops.
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I heard from a *friend* that was a small watermark in the lower left corner that was blurred out;)...
 
Good luck with that. Next you'll tell me you want to stop sunlight from hitting earth.
 
I don't know why people were so excited to watch these episodes that were leaked early. I'm happily waiting for full HD versions one a week as they come out. It would drive me batty to watch the first few episodes then have to wait 1-2 months to watch the new episodes, thanks to Netflix it's hard for me to have to wait just a week to watch the next episode or a show, I only get 1-2 nights a week where I have time to veg and I enjoy binge watching a series lol.
 
If this strategy works it is actually smarter than their other legal strategies ... if they could get ISPs in the USA to permanently block users it would have a pretty big impact as there are only a limited number of ISPs available (usually) and most people would find it inconvenient to try and do all their streaming or internet through public internet only

That said, I don't see all the ISPs banning users ... land lines might, but wireless providers make far too much money off of users (especially streamers) to discard them ;)
 
kbrickley said:
If this strategy works it is actually smarter than their other legal strategies ... if they could get ISPs in the USA to permanently block users it would have a pretty big impact as there are only a limited number of ISPs available (usually) and most people would find it inconvenient to try and do all their streaming or internet through public internet only

That said, I don't see all the ISPs banning users ... land lines might, but wireless providers make far too much money off of users (especially streamers) to discard them ;)
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It wouldn't work and would be as much of a failure as their current programs. The greedy ISPs also don't want to part with any profits, which is what that would cause.

What would work is giving people what they want, content that is convenient at affordable prices.
 
kbrickley said:
If this strategy works it is actually smarter than their other legal strategies ... if they could get ISPs in the USA to permanently block users it would have a pretty big impact as there are only a limited number of ISPs available (usually) and most people would find it inconvenient to try and do all their streaming or internet through public internet only

That said, I don't see all the ISPs banning users ... land lines might, but wireless providers make far too much money off of users (especially streamers) to discard them ;)
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Title II regulation means that this cant happen in the US. You will need criminal charges to cut an internet connection now, not just civil.
 
eh, not sure the whole point. so they watch them now and then wait 3 weeks for the 5th episode. is that better? It is dumb anyway, they could digitally sign the videos to find who leaks. It could be removed but only with access to a second copy, and even then they can create fudge factors to isolate who leaked the copies.
 
The DMCA is a draconian piece of garbage and HBO hasn't lost a cent due to this, if anything is making the site even more popular.

And it was leaked by someone HBO gave the screeners to, go after them and not users.
 
Just get a VPN, problem fixed. You can get one for $49.99 a year. The one I use still lets me DL at about 40 mbps asec which is pretty fast.
 
Prod1702 said:
Just get a VPN, problem fixed. You can get one for $49.99 a year. The one I use still lets me DL at about 40 mbps asec which is pretty fast.
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I might just give HBO Now a shot and go legit. If Game of Thrones is aired every week and only 10 episodes, 3 months at $15/mo should do it.
 
Skripka said:
Remember...HBO is for intents a Delaware corporation that is owned and operated by Time-Warner.
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Look up how many businesses are 'based' in delaware, you'd be surprised. Aparently that state has some fantatic laws to protect businesses, so a lot of them re-incorporate there.
 
I jumped on the HBO now bandwagon myself. I don't mind paying for 3months of hbo now to watch game of thrones. Tack on the itunes giftcard discounts you can usually get and it ends up being under $40 for the entire season. It's not worth the risks to save a few bucks. If you have to use a vpn, what are you saving really?

I have no plans on keeping hbo going outside of the got season. If they had other shows that sparked my interest, I might think about it, but there are so many alternatives on netflix and OTA.
 
Dawill said:
I jumped on the HBO now bandwagon myself. I don't mind paying for 3months of hbo now to watch game of thrones. Tack on the itunes giftcard discounts you can usually get and it ends up being under $40 for the entire season. It's not worth the risks to save a few bucks. If you have to use a vpn, what are you saving really?

I have no plans on keeping hbo going outside of the got season. If they had other shows that sparked my interest, I might think about it, but there are so many alternatives on netflix and OTA.
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What if I told you that people who use a VPN to download GoT more than likely use a VPN to download other pirated content as well?
 
I wish HBO would offer their shows as pay-per episode or pay per season rather then a monthly subscription thing. I don't mind paying per episode (or season) via Amazon like I do with The Walking Dead, but I don't like to be locked down to another subscription where I may end up paying for a month without ever getting around to watching anything on it. I do support our entertainment industry and believe they should be compensated for such high quality programming as the GOT, Dexter, Breaking Bad, and TWD. So shows like these, I would pay for and not search it out online if given the option.
 
Biznatch said:
Look up how many businesses are 'based' in delaware, you'd be surprised. Aparently that state has some fantatic laws to protect businesses, so a lot of them re-incorporate there.
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Yup. My point was and is though that talking about "HBO" like it is some sort of independent entity doing this after reasoned debate....is just foolishly uninformed. HBO=Time-Warner. The only surprising about this story is that Time-Warner didn't start this sooner.
 
Skripka said:
Yup. My point was and is though that talking about "HBO" like it is some sort of independent entity doing this after reasoned debate....is just foolishly uninformed. HBO=Time-Warner. The only surprising about this story is that Time-Warner didn't start this sooner.
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This just looks like a way to justify watching their content for free and not feel bad about it. Kind of like dehumanizing your enemies so you can do inhumane things to them. Maybe we should all hate on Time Magazine (or whatever other subsidiaries there are) while we're at it.
 
Ragenrok said:
I don't know why people were so excited to watch these episodes that were leaked early. I'm happily waiting for full HD versions one a week as they come out. It would drive me batty to watch the first few episodes then have to wait 1-2 months to watch the new episodes, thanks to Netflix it's hard for me to have to wait just a week to watch the next episode or a show, I only get 1-2 nights a week where I have time to veg and I enjoy binge watching a series lol.
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I agree with you. If I saw them in advance, then that ruin my sunday night ritual with my wife. Also seeing them in HD is a plus to me.
 
As someone who is paying for HBO and just watched the first 2 episodes last night... Meh. Nobody is missing anything.
 
DocSavage said:
I might just give HBO Now a shot and go legit. If Game of Thrones is aired every week and only 10 episodes, 3 months at $15/mo should do it.
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yea I have a buddy who has it but I use BT a lot for things so the VPN is over all safer. Also $49.99 over 12 months is $4.16 a month so it is still cheaper. Also only thing I watch on HBO is GOT.
 
Prod1702 said:
yea I have a buddy who has it but I use BT a lot for things so the VPN is over all safer. Also $49.99 over 12 months is $4.16 a month so it is still cheaper. Also only thing I watch on HBO is GOT.
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Yeah, "stealing" shit is generally cheaper than buying it, otherwise people wouldn't do it. I guess it would be ok to steal a car, as long as the only thing you did with it was drive to work right? Sorry, but the excuse of it being ok because you only do it a little isn't an excuse at all, it's just a cop out from the morally bankrupt.
 
canna said:
Yeah, "stealing" shit is generally cheaper than buying it, otherwise people wouldn't do it. I guess it would be ok to steal a car, as long as the only thing you did with it was drive to work right? Sorry, but the excuse of it being ok because you only do it a little isn't an excuse at all, it's just a cop out from the morally bankrupt.
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If only I could download a car I would be set for life. Wouldn't that be nice.
 
Prod1702 said:
If only I could download a car I would be set for life. Wouldn't that be nice.
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If you could ask your buddy if you could take some pictures of his car, toss it into a 3D printer, and have an identical copy of his car in your garage the next morning.... would you do it?

i-would-if-i-could.jpg
 
DocSavage said:
This just looks like a way to justify watching their content for free and not feel bad about it. Kind of like dehumanizing your enemies so you can do inhumane things to them.
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I agree, downloading GoT is basically the same thing as the holocaust if you really think about it. Same concept.
 
Good for HBO.

It's too bad everyone doesn't fund or participation in the creation of content to make their living; there would be a lot fewer rationalizing bitches in the world.
 
The excuses people will make for pirating stuff is sad.
HBO dosn't cost a fortune....if you are too "el cheapo"...then stay away...and SFTU.

(I have a HBO Nordic subscription just for GoT in case anyone wonders.)
 
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