They're just empty threats to make you sign up for HBO service. I don't recall hearing of HBO ever going after anyone who just downloaded a torrent. They've sai

They're just empty threats to make you sign up for HBO service. I don't recall hearing of HBO ever going after anyone who just downloaded a torrent. They've said in the past that they accept some level of piracy as part of the business model; so long as people are watching their shows they will keep making money. It's not "sure, go ahead and pirate our shows!" but more of "People pirate our shows, so we look at piracy for trends to see what countries/audiences have a large, underserved viewer base for our shows." Some people pirate because shows are unavailable, so you can sell to them and make money. People who pirate because they're cheap and don't want to pay aren't HBO's target customers (and they probably don't have enough money to be worth suing anyway).