As HBO Screams About GoT Episodes Leaking From A Hack, HBO Leaks Next GoT Episode Early

(Mis)Uses of Technology

from the fine-everything's-fine dept

I love HBO’s Game Of Thrones. I hate everything we have to write about it, however, because the stories are typically dumb in the usual ways that stories are dumb here at Techdirt. From HBO happily playing the evil villain in protecting the show’s IP in the most overly-protectionist manner possible, to HBO screaming about the show being heavily pirated while everyone else comments about how good a thing that actually is, all the way up to the occasional overt hacking that occurs, where episodes from the show leak early, everybody freaks out, and then HBO and GoT go on to rake in tons of eyeballs and money anyway. One of these hacks just occurred, as you may know, resulting in a ransom not being paid to the hackers, who were then eventually arrested. While episode four of the current season did indeed get leaked, it wasn’t the hackers who leaked it, but someone at an HBO distribution partner. So HBO screams about hacks while someone with in its own house is leaking episodes.

And now it just appears to have happened again. Episode six has now leaked out and fingers are being pointed at the Spanish division of HBO itself for the leak.

Trouble continues for HBO as another episode of the popular Game of Thrones series has just leaked online, days ahead of the official premiere. Copies of the sixth episode of the current season, titled ‘Death is the Enemy,’ are currently circulating on various streaming portals, direct download, and torrent sites.

At the moment it’s not confirmed how the leak came about but some suggest that it was leaked by HBO itself in Spain. Several people have posted screenshots and videos that suggest it was made public by HBO unintentionally.

With no counter-narrative yet from HBO, which you’ll recall loves to scream about hacks and piracy, the accidental leak from HBO is the only explanation on offer as of the time of this writing. And, look, mistakes like this happen. The point of this post isn’t to point the finger and laugh at HBO for accidentally leaking an episode itself.

No, the point is that these leaks just don’t matter. The show continues to rack up the same astounding viewership numbers, leaks and all. It’s wildly successful. It has been spun off into board games and all manner of merchandise. It’s to the point that nobody batted an eye when HBO refused to pay the hackers’ ransom to not release the episodes early. There would be no point. Hell, when the first four episodes of season five of the show were leaked early, that season broke the show’s viewership records.

So chill, HBO. Leaks from hackers, leaks from distributors, and leaks from your own offices aren’t going to bring the piracy dragons to your doors to destroy your keep.

Filed Under: game of thrones, leak
Companies: hbo