29 April 2019 - Virus is Coming: Game of Thrones downloads top threat list
Illegally downloaded Game of Thrones episodes expose you to VIRUSES that hijack your computer
Harry Pettit (The Sun, 10/04/2019)
GAME OF THRONES fans are being targeted by cyber criminals in a vicious campaign to hijack people's computers.
Hackers are disguising viruses as illegal downloads ahead of the show's hotly anticipated final season, which airs this week.
Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to pirate the episodes so they don't have to shell out for pricey TV packages.
And it seems cyber criminals are jumping on the chance to scam viewers as they scour the web for downloads.
Here's Why That Game Of Thrones Illegal Download Probably Contains Malware
Kate O'Flaherty (Forbes, 02/04/2019)
Game of Thrones season 8 is set to hit screens on 14 April and lots of people are excited. But not all Game of Thrones fans are prepared to pay the price to watch the HBO drama. So much so that the show is the world’s most torrented, according to download monitoring website TorrentFreak.
Even the Guinness Book of Records includes stats on the show, saying that one episode – the finale of season 7, aired on 27 August 2017 – was being shared across more than 400,000 torrents simultaneously.
And researchers at Kaspersky Lab have just released new information that concurs: In 2017 and 2018, Game of Thrones led the list of TV shows targeted by cyber criminals to use as a disguise for malware.
Game of Threats: how cybercriminals use popular TV shows to spread malware
Kaspersky Lab (Techbizweb, 01/04/2019)
While the way we consume TV content is rapidly changing, the content itself remains in high demand, and users resort to any means available to get at it – including illegal and non-ethical ones like the use of pirated stuff. The world is embracing the idea of paying for entertainment more and more with the development of paid subscription networks like Netflix or Apple Music. Yet many countries are still fighting the battle against illegally distributed content. In December 2018, Australia’s Federal Court issued an injunctionrequiring local internet providers to block 181 pirate domains linked to 78 websites full of files infringing copyright regulations. At the beginning of 2019, Brazil’s Ministry of Justice brought on board the Federal Police of Brazil (Polícia Federal) to launch an anti-piracy operation targeting the illegal distribution of music, movies and TV shows. These are just two of the many initiatives introduced both by governments and the private sector all over the world to combat the problem.
Is downloading really stealing? The ethics of digital piracy
(The Conversation, 29/04/2019)
Many millions of people throughout the world will illegally download the fifth season of Game of Thrones, released today by HBO. Legally speaking, what they will be doing is a violation of intellectual property rights, or “piracy”. But will they be doing anything morally wrong?
It might seem obvious that what they will do is wrong. After all, it is illegal. But there are many things that have been illegal that people don’t think are morally wrong. Same-sex relationships, divorce and many other practices that are now widely accepted as morally acceptable were once outlawed and criminally sanctioned.
Few people think they were wrong just before they were legalised. Rather, they tend to think the laws governing these behaviours were unjust. So appeal only to the illegality of downloading doesn’t settle whether it is okay, morally speaking.