HBO Is Going After People Who Pirated Those Leaked 'Game Of Thrones' Episodes

US cable juggernaut HBO is stepping up its fight against illegal downloaders as news breaks that the company is issuing infringement notices to internet users it believes took advantage of an early leak of the first four episodes of Game Of Thrones' fifth season last week.

As Fairfax reports (via TorrentFreak), HBO has been working with anti-piracy collaborator IP-Echelon, through which the station has issued infringement notices "around the world" after the leak — which appears to have generated with a preview DVD sent to an approved outlet by HBO — not only hit torrent-sharing networks but streaming platform Periscope, against which the company also issued takedown notices over users' broadcasting of the leaked episodes.

According to TorrentFreak, some notices were directed at global users who accessed the episodes using virtual private network (VPN) connections, which are increasingly popular in countries such as Australia, though these were apparently entirely ineffective — by design, VPN users "can't be identified and never get to see the warnings in question", TorrentFreak said.

The crackdown from HBO follows the unprecedented action taken by the US-based Dallas Buyers Club LLC against Australian-based internet service providers (ISPs), which recently resulted in iiNet, Internode, Dodo an several other companies having to hand over the personal details of 4726 Aussie users who had illegally downloaded 2013 hit Dallas Buyers Club.

However, despite the mostly-bark-and-a-little-bite measure of a single infringement notice (no legal action can currently be taken from one transgression, though repeat offenders will possibly face account termination from their ISP), little incentive is being put forward for Australians to access new episodes of Game Of Thrones legally, especially given that HBO is now taking steps to block non-US-based users from accessing their HBO Now service, according to Fairfax.

Once in effect, the HBO Now lockout — apparently due to be implemented tomorrow, 21 April — will leave Aussie fans of the fantasy series essentially with only one legal option to get their mediaeval political fix in any kind of timely manner — subscribing to Foxtel.

However, according to an HBO Now spokesperson, the company is "exploring international opportunities and will provide updates as available", they told theMusic.com.au.