"[We] have arrested four individuals for unauthorised publication of the fourth episode from season seven."
After an episode of Game of Thrones leaked on 4th August 2017, Indian police have arrested four individuals. They suspect them of leaking the episode before it would air globally.
Indian police arrested the four people on Monday 14th August and produced them before a court. They are now in police custody for a week.
The four Indians were charged with criminal breach of trust and computer-related offences.
Their identities remain unknown. But three of the arrested belong to a firm called Prime Focus Technology. The fourth is a former employee of the company.
Prime Focus Technology processes Game of Thrones for streaming website Hotstar. They had lodged a complaint with police.
The episode in question, entitled ‘The Spoils of War’, was leaked from Star India. HBO planned to air it in the US on 6th August and India on the following day. However, once the leak became confirmed, Indian police began an investigation into the matter.
After the arrest of four people, the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Akbar Pathan, said: “We investigated the case and have arrested four individuals for unauthorised publication of the fourth episode from season seven.”
In addition, Prime Focus Technology has released a statement on the arrests. The company explained the investigation occurred in their Bengaluru-based office. It read:
“Authorities swooped in on the Bengaluru office of Prime Focus Technologies from where the leakage was apprehended to have occurred and carried out interrogation of the employees throughout the night on August 11.”
Since its first season, back in 2011, Game of Thrones has become one of the most pirated shows in TV history. The HBO-produced series has witnessed many leaks take place, with a recent one supposedly taking place in July 2017.
Not related to the above incident with Star India, a group of hackers claimed they had stolen 1.5TB of data from HBO. This allegedly includes episodes of TV series Ballers and Room 104, as well as scripts from Game of Thrones episodes.
At the time, HBO released a statement saying: “[We are] not in communication with the hacker, and we’re not going to comment every time a new piece of information is released.”
However, in India, police will still continue their investigations into the four people over the leaked Game of Thrones episode. They have revealed that the arrested will remain in police custody, until 21st August 2017.
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