About three weeks after news broke that HBO was cracking down on illegal downloads (particularly when it comes to Game of Thrones) we’ve heard that an Australian man has been sentenced for his role in providing illegal access to Foxtel services (which includes the Australian distribution of GOT).

The media company released a statement on the news sharing that:

“Haidar Majid Salam Al Baghdadi has been convicted of criminal offences relating to charges of operating an illegal network that allowed more than 8000 people across Australia to access Foxtel subscription television broadcasts for free. A Sydney court has sentenced Al Baghdadi to serve an 18 month suspended jail term for carrying out the offenses."
Peter Tonagh, the CEO of Foxtel made a statement on the ruling, sharing that he hopes it “sends a strong signal”:

“Foxtel welcomes today’s court ruling and hopes it sends a strong signal that this type of activity is illegal. Foxtel takes intellectual property theft very seriously as it severely undermines the creative industry including every business and individual that works so hard to deliver us the movies, sport, drama and entertainment we love.

“Foxtel conducts ongoing investigations into the theft of Foxtel programming and we are proud to work so closely with the AFP and our partners at Irdeto to ensure the full force of the law is applied to protect our content.”