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Hackers Leak New Episodes of Orange Is the New Black and Claim More Leaks to Come http://ift.tt/2pt9qqg Netflix bingers received a weekend surprise when they woke up this morning to find the first ten episodes of the new season of Orange Is the New Black have allegedly been leaked to torrent networks. A hacker group has claimed responsibility and they say it only occurred because Netflix refused to pay a ransom. The group also claims to have more shows from other networks. TheDarkOverlord has claimed responsibility for the leak. Speaking with TorrentFreak, the hacking group claims that a post-production company engaged in negotiations to prevent the release of one of its most high-profile shows months ahead of schedule. Payment never materialized and the group made good on its threats. Advertisement Advertisement According to TorrentFreak:
TDO reportedly showed off a copy of the contract that Larson Studios signed but they say a payment of 50 bitcoins (about $68,000) was never received. “A late fee was levied and they still didn’t hold up their end of the agreement,” TDO claims. First, the group tweeted a warning. Then it tweeted a link to the first episode. Just after 2am this morning, it tweeted a link to the rest of the dump. It’s unclear if there are more episodes that TDO may be hanging onto in order to demand more money now that they have Netflix’s attention. But the group insists it has more content from other networks and if that’s true, negotiations might go fairly easy.
Larson Studios, the company that was allegedly hacked, works on some big name shows. Looking at its website, projects include New Girl, Documentary Now, Fargo, and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. An unnamed source tells Variety that one of the programs that could be leaked is the second season of Ron Howard’s Nat Geo show, Breakthrough. Sponsored Depending on what other properties the hackers have their hands on, this could turn into one of the biggest hacks Hollywood has ever faced. A show like Breakthrough may not be particularly harmed by a torrent leak but Orange Is the New Black tends to attract a younger, web-savvy crowd. If they want to torrent the new season, many will do so without blinking an eye. That’s a big problem for Netflix considering that just a couple of weeks ago, the streaming giant told shareholders that it didn’t meet its growth projections because it didn’t have any major original content releases. With new seasons of House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black lined up for this quarter, growth was expected to level out. The Associated Press notes that rumors about the hack have been swirling for months and reporters spoke with TDO back in February. A spokesperson reportedly told the AP that they had decided not to release the material because “no one really (cares) about unreleased movies and TV show episodes.” That may have been a tongue-in-cheek response or maybe they thought they were getting paid at the time. Advertisement Advertisement Gizmodo reached out to Netflix and here’s its official statement:
If TheDarkOverlord gets busted, the Orange Is the New Black-related headlines will write themselves. [TorrentFreak, Variety, Associated Press] Digital Trends via Gizmodo http://gizmodo.com April 29, 2017 at 10:27AM
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