《權力的遊戲》高居年盜版美劇榜首
據美國Torrentfreak網站年度調查顯示，HBO大熱美劇《權力的遊戲》是2012年盜版最多的劇集，其中有一集的全球非法下載量高達428萬，比預計的美國觀衆總數還要高。緊隨其後的是《嗜血法醫》和《生活大爆炸》。該網站表示，雖然過去兩年，美國、英國、墨西哥，以及烏克蘭等國紛紛採取行動關閉或屏蔽了不少非法分享網站，但這兩年的非法下載量仍有小幅上升。非法下載屢禁不止的原因主要是播出延遲和網絡播放限制過多。就《權力的遊戲》來說，HBO不允許Netflix等在線播放服務商播放該劇集，而只在其自有平臺“HBO在線”播放，而只有HBO有線的訂閱用戶才能登錄該平臺觀看劇集。
以下爲2012年盜版美劇Top 10:
1. Game of Thrones 《權力的遊戲》
2. Dexter 《嗜血法醫》
3. The Big Bang Theory 《生活大爆炸》
4. How I Met Your Mother 《老爸老媽浪漫史》
5. Breaking Bad 《絕命毒師》
6. The Walking Dead 《行屍走肉》
7. Homeland 《國土安全》
8. House 《豪斯醫生》
9. Fringe 《危機邊緣》
10. Revolution 《滅世》
Game of Thrones has emerged as the most-pirated TV show over the internet this year, according to news site Torrentfreak's latest annual survey.
It said one episode of the series had racked up 4,280,000 illegal global downloads - slightly more than its estimated US television audience.
The site said that overall there had been a "small increase" in the amount of illegal sharing.
That was despite a "levelling out" of the activity the previous two years.
The rise also followed increased efforts to shut down or block websites providing access to copyright infringing material.
Investigations by the US, Mexican and Ukrainian authorities led to two of the best known file-sharing services disappearing earlier this year - digital locker service Megaupload and Bit Torrent link site Demonoid.
The administrators of Newzbin2 - a site which aggregated links to illegally copied material sourced from Usenet forums - also abandoned the operation after the UK courts forced internet service providers (ISPs) to block access.
In addition, UK-based Surfthechannel went offline after its owner went on trial for "facilitating" copyright infringement - a crime which resulted in him receiving a four year prison sentence.
Several countries ISPs have also been ordered to block The Pirate Bay, although political activists at Europe's Pirate Parties continue to offer proxy-based workarounds.
Despite all the closures, one episode of of Game of Thrones racked up 4,280,000 illegal global downloads, according to Torrentfreak. That was slightly more than its estimated US television audience.
The level of piracy may be linked to the fact that the TV company behind it - HBO - does not allow Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime or other US streaming services access to its programs. It instead restricts them to its own HBO Go online product, which is only available to its cable subscribers.
Outside the US, Torrentfreak noted that Australia was responsible for a disproportionate amount of illegal copies of Game of Thrones and suggested this may have been because episodes were broadcast locally a week later than in the US.
Torrentfreak's editor acknowledged that, despite his findings, HBO might still want to keep its current model.
"Not all of the people who pirate do it because it's free - availability is also a big factor," Ernesto Van Der Sar told the BBC.
"Most of the titles in the top 10 list are behind paywalls and are not distributed very widely. If TV companies offered them online to a broader audience, piracy would be lower than it is now.
"But I'm not sure that would be best for their revenues as they rely on expensive subscriptions which they still sell a lot of. If they allowed people to download individual episodes from Netflix, for example, they might not make as much money."
Most pirated TV shows of 2012
1. Game of Thrones
2. Dexter
3. The Big Bang Theory
4. How I Met Your Mother
5. Breaking Bad
6. The Walking Dead
7. Homeland
8. House
9. Fringe
10. Revolution
