New episodes of Game of Thrones leaked online

[AroundTheWorld]

New episodes of Game of Thrones leaked online

PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 14 April, 2015, 1:33am
UPDATED : Tuesday, 14 April, 2015, 1:33am

The Guardian

TorrentFreak reported that during the first three hours online, the episodes were downloaded more than 100,000 times. Photo: HBO

A day before the premiere of the much-anticipated fifth season of Games of Thrones, the first four episodes of the TV series have been leaked online.

The unauthorised releases came despite the best efforts of HBO, which had scheduled the premiere simultaneously in 170 countries, on Sunday night in the US, in an attempt to discourage illegal distribution. Game of Thrones has become the most pirated TV show in the world.

Mashable reported that the four episodes, which have been uploaded to several torrent sites, appeared to have emerged from review DVDs sent to the press and had their digital watermarks blurred out.

TorrentFreak reported that during the first three hours online, the episodes were downloaded more than 100,000 times.

"We're actively assessing how this breach occurred," HBO spokesman Jeff Cusson said.

The return of the show was already said to have prompted a huge surge in internet piracy, with fans making more than 100,000 illegal downloads a day of episodes of the show from previous series. A snapshot of global illegal downloading, carried out by anti-piracy and security firm Irdeto, found more than seven million Game of Thrones episodes from seasons one to four were downloaded between February 5 and April 6.

Last week, Game of Thrones producer Greg Spence expressed concern about the prospect of leaks of the new series. "The cast is looping all over the world, sending files back and forth," he told the Denver Post. "The files are watermarked, and editors have to confirm in writing that they've deleted them."

All of the leaked copies are in standard definition, said Dan Rayburn, who runs the StreamingMedia blog.

"The leak will impact some viewers, but just how many we have no way to know," Rayburn said. "Many want to see it in better quality."

• Australian Game of Thrones fans have taken to naming their children after key characters in the epic fantasy show.
  

Last year there were 16 babies named Khaleesi or Kaleesi, apparently in homage to the young dragon-taming princess of the series, a News Corporation report said. There has also been tripling in birth registrations of Arya (or Aria), a daughter in the series' Stark family.

Additional reporting by Bloomberg and Xinhua