Do you watch Game of Thrones online for free? HBO issues stark warning to pirates and torrent users

Fans of Game of Thrones who illegally downloaded the series seven premiere could be receiving a warning letter from the fantasy show’s broadcaster HBO.

The company’s anti-piracy department claims to be collecting the IP addresses of those of those uploading, downloading and sharing pirated and torrented episodes of Game of Thrones and notifying their internet service providers.

According to copyright piracy website Torrentfreak, the warning letters read: “We have information leading us to believe that the IP address xx.xxx.xxx.xx was used to download or share Game of Thrones without authorization,”

“HBO owns the copyright or exclusive rights to Game of Thrones, and the unauthorized download or distribution constitutes copyright infringement. Downloading unauthorized or unknown content is also a security risk for computers, devices, and networks.”

It’s the latest step in HBO’s uncompromising approach to internet piracy. The broadcaster has also issued torrent sites with requests to take pirated versions of GoT episodes offline. But as the series has consistently been one of the most illegally downloaded shows in history, HBO has a tough task on its hands.

Earlier this week, it was revealed that the first episode of series seven was illegally downloaded 90 million times in the three days after it aired.

The study, which was conducted by piracy monitoring organisation MUSO, suggests that over 15 million of the pirates are based in the US while 6 million Thrones fans watched the show illegally in the UK.

Andy Chatterly, CEO of MUSO, described the findings as “a massive opportunity to engage people and bring them back to legitimate mediums”.

Game of Thrones series seven will air on Mondays at 2am and then again at 9pm on Sky Atlantic. You can also watch new episodes on Now TV.