Or there's another reason not to use a better tracking system: HBO is ok with leaks. The more the show gets leaked, the larger the audience. Some portion of that audience will pay for HBO, and hopefully stick around for the other HBO shows. HBO has been remarkably progressive on the piracy front.
It's also only the first four episodes: enough to get you hooked enough to want to see the end. Of course, torrents are always an option, but at some point $15/mo is worth less than the hassle of downloading the show on a weekly basis.
> HBO has been remarkably progressive on the piracy front.
I'm not suggesting that's not accurate, but I'd love to better understand your sources for that, as my single point of anecdotal evidence suggests otherwise.
About six or seven years ago we torrented a single episode of an HBO series (I forget which—we were cable-cutters and it wasn't available to rent online at the time) and while we knew it was wrong, it was convenient and it worked.
However, we were surprised when, two days later, I received an email from Comcast saying HBO had reported that our IP address had pirated copyrighted material, and that if we did it again our service would be shut off and we'd possibly face civil charges. That actually shocked me into avoiding bittorrent altogether, which was undoubtedly their goal.
Empty threats or not, I hardly walked away feeling that HBO was "remarkably progressive on the piracy front".
Maybe things have changed?
(Note, I'm not actually pro-piracy, since I do think that copyright holders deserve a right to monetize their work as they see fit, within bounds. I just wish more of them had a more sophisticated view on how to make their content more broadly and conveniently available.)
They're just empty threats to make you sign up for HBO service. I don't recall hearing of HBO ever going after anyone who just downloaded a torrent. They've said in the past that they accept some level of piracy as part of the business model; so long as people are watching their shows they will keep making money.
It's not "sure, go ahead and pirate our shows!" but more of "People pirate our shows, so we look at piracy for trends to see what countries/audiences have a large, underserved viewer base for our shows." Some people pirate because shows are unavailable, so you can sell to them and make money. People who pirate because they're cheap and don't want to pay aren't HBO's target customers (and they probably don't have enough money to be worth suing anyway).
In the US these notices get spammed a lot. You quickly learn to use a VPN or seedbox or whatever. Personally, I use put.io even when the stuff is on Netflix. I get higher quality versions (or I get to pick the quality), I get subtitles (Netflix hates deaf people, even on "Netflix Original Series" where you'd think they have the rights.) I get flexibility. (Play anywhere, fix audio levels, fix brightness, etc.)
And it's actually pretty easy, just using my phone. I go to a torrent site, search. Longpress the Magnet URI. Open with Put.io App. Switch to Put.io (transfers are instantly done for popular files). Turn on Chromecast and hit play.
This seems like the most likely scenario. After all, how do the leaks negatively affect HBO? Anyone who was going to pay for HBO to watch the first four episodes had almost certainly already paid HBO by the day of the first episodes' airing. Only four episodes leaked, so no one is going to cancel HBO because they already received their Game of Thrones fix. HBO has no advertising, so the actual ratings for their shows are totally irrelevant. If you were already going to pirate the show, the leak just lets you pirate the show a little earlier. Finally this entire story just serves as extra advertising for the show. Is there any other possible story that would have Game of Thrones as one of the top posts on HN?
Exactly. There is so little downside to HBO from this leak that I'm surprised nobody else is saying this. It's not like the show isn't on torrent sites within an hour of each episode airing - anyone who would torrent the show and not pay for it was already going to do so.
It's also worth noting that anyone in the US who has an iOS device can get the first four episodes for free "legally" -- HBO Now comes with a one-month free trial.
It's also only the first four episodes: enough to get you hooked enough to want to see the end. Of course, torrents are always an option, but at some point $15/mo is worth less than the hassle of downloading the show on a weekly basis.