Photo from Helen Sloan/HBO via AP
“Game of Thrones” Season 7 premiere recorded the show’s highest viewership ever last Sunday (Monday in Manila).
READ: ‘Game of Thrones’ Season 7 premiere rakes in 16M viewers
Despite the multiple means to watch the epic fantasy saga legally, most people preferred to watch the show through illegal downloads and streams.
After breaking yet another piracy record, HBO is now closely observing various popular torrent swarms and sending thousands of warnings to internet subscribers whose connections are used to share the Season 7 premiere, according to copyright and piracy news site Torrentfreak.
Shortly after the premiere aired, HBO’s anti-piracy partner IP Echelon sent out multiple message warnings to several targeted torrent pirates.
“We have information leading us to believe that the IP address ‘xx.xxx.xxx.xx’ was used to download or share Game of Thrones without authorization,” reads the notification, which even includes the IP-addresses of alleged BitTorrent user.
“HBO owns the copyright or exclusive rights to Game of Thrones, and the unauthorized download or distribution constitutes copyright infringement,” the rest of the warning reads.
“Downloading unauthorized or unknown content is also a security risk for computers, devices, and networks.”
The studio also urges ISPs (Internet service Providers) to alert their subscribers of the possible consequences to prevent further infringements.
Meanwhile, HBO has also released a similar warning to pirates last year for pirated episodes of the show’s sixth season.
With the end of the critically acclaimed series looming, the studio is expected to further imply strict measures to resolve its piracy issue. Khristian Ibarrola