No TV show is more anticipated by rabid fans as Season 5 of Game of Thrones. Now those fans will have to exercise royal discipline not to cheat the system and watch the first four episodes, which have been leaked online. TorrentFreak reports that the usual suspects, The Pirate Bay and KickAssTorrents have the show available. It’s become increasingly harder to protect intellectual property like Game of Thrones–with embargoed content reserved for early reviewers easily targeted by hackers and content thieves.
Irdeto, an antipiracy software company, says Game of Thrones is already the world’s most pirated show, having been illegally downloaded 7 million times in just the last two months. That figure doesn’t include the new episodes from the new season, which just leaked. HBO is using Game of Thrones as the chief bait to lure customers to its new HBO Now offering, a standalone network that doesn’t require a cable subscription.
