Hacker Leaks 'Orange Is the New Black' Episodes After Failing To Extort Netflix (bleepingcomputer.com)

An anonymous reader writes: "A hacker (or hacker group) known as The Dark Overlord (TDO) has leaked the first ten episodes of season 5 of the "Orange Is The New Black" show after two failed blackmail attempts, against Larson Studios and Netflix," reports BleepingComputer. The hacker said he stole hundreds of gigabytes of audio files from Larson Studios last December. "TDO claims the studio initially agreed to pay a ransom of 50 Bitcoin ($67,000) by January 31, and the two parties even signed a contract, albeit TDO signed it using the name 'Adolf Hitler.'" This might have been the reason why the company thought this was a joke and didn't pay the ransom as initially agreed.

At this point, the hacker turned from the studio to Netflix, but the company didn't want to pay either. As a warning, the hacker leaked the first episode of season 5, but half a day later, he leaked 9 more. "According to Netflix's website, season 5 is supposed to have 13 episodes and is scheduled for release in June, this year." The hacker also claims he's in possession of shows and movies from other movie studios and television channels, such as FOX, IFC, NAT GEO, and ABC. Some of the titles include "Celebrity Apprentice," "NCIS Los Angeles," "New Girl," and "XXX The return of Xander Cage".

Comments

Who cares.

[Anonymous Coward]

If you have Netflix, you'll watch it when it comes out in June.
If you pirate, you'll pirate it when it comes out in June.

This is only letting pirates get it early, but they can't talk about it mainstream, lest they out themselves as a pirate.

Wow

[kamapuaa]

What a triumph of free speech.

Re:Wow

[rockout]

I don't think this matters much. Anyone likely to download the leaked episodes wouldn't pay for Netflix anyway; they're just getting the episodes earlier, and that's a small % of the viewing audience. Anyone who pays for Netflix and watches these episodes legit isn't likely to go figure out Bittorrent and get them early either. So who cares? Obviously not Netflix.

Re:Wow

[JaredOfEuropa]

What about those who pay for Netflix but aren't getting content in a timely manner (most series), see content disappear after a year (there's been a terrible purge here recently), or aren't getting the content at all? The availability and selection in certain smaller countries is kind of rubbish compared to what one gets in the US or the UK. So yes, in some cases even Netflix subscribers have to resort to Bittorrent. Maybe this is due to outdated license models, where one can buy the rights to show something in country X for a period of Y months or some such, instead of a license granting the right to show it everywhere for a certain amount per view. In the meantime I sure hope my country will at some point revive its old policy on piracy: "If content isn't available legally, then we don't prosecute people who pirate it". If you don't sell your content here, you should have no recourse against pirates; remember that copyright is not a natural right but something cooked up to encourage production and distribution of cultural works, by granting artists a temporary monopoly that enables them to make some money off their creation. I will pay for content, but if you will not take my money I have zero moral objections to availing myself of your works by other means.

Re:Wow

[baker_tony]

"if I am paying for Netflix anyway, is there any harm being done?"
Yes, hundreds of kittens will be murdered and the tooth fairy will get run over if you watch downloaded shows that weren't downloaded right.

Re:Wow

[No Longer an AC]

What about those who pay for Netflix but aren't getting content in a timely manner (most series), see content disappear after a year (there's been a terrible purge here recently), or aren't getting the content at all?

They should stop paying for Netflix.

Personally I've shelled out for Netflix for years and while it doesn't show me everything I want when I want I'm pretty satisfied. And I like OITNB, but I really am not going to go out of my way to see it before its official release. If there were some deleted scenes I might be tempted but I haven't pirated anything since I cut the cord and had to torrent the last few episodes of Breaking Bad.

I actually felt a little guilty about that because it was available on iTunes at the time, but I didn't want to have anything to do with iTunes. And now the entire series is on Netflix. I could have just waited - and the last episode was worth at least $1.99 or whatever the price was on iTunes.

Seriously, it costs next to nothing. If you don't think it's worth $10 (or whatever it is) don't pay for it. I'm currently miffed because despite getting Amazon Prime too I can't watch the latest season of Hap and Leonard without paying $1.99 per episode.

Such are the problems of not paying $150 a month for cable TV.

And is $1.99 so bad? It's not really and didn't many of us clamor for a la carte choices? It doesn't get much more a la carte than paying per an episode and compared to what we'd pay to see a movie in a theater it's not a terrible price either.

I'm actually more disappointed in having to pay both Amazon and Netflix for my TV-watching experience because I can only watch one at a time, but there is enough exclusive content to make each worthwhile and I've got a long way to go before I exhaust all of their libraries - and by that time I'm sure a new season of Trailer Park Boys will be out on Netflix.

Re:Wow

[AmiMoJo]

Even in the UK the selection is crap. iPlayer is getting worse too. Poor picture quality, poor selection.

Re:Wow

[trawg]

What about those who pay for Netflix but aren't getting content in a timely manner (most series), see content disappear after a year (there's been a terrible purge here recently), or aren't getting the content at all?

This is why Netflix spend $1b on technology per year and $4b on creating new content. They know if they own the content they can set the worldwide licensing rules. I hope they use this to force the other content owners to make more reasonable licensing decisions but given they seem to have failed to display adaptability for ~20 years I suspect they won't.

And Netflix executives think

[Dunbal]

"Hacker provides much more than $57000 worth of free publicity for our series"

New TV Series

[PocketPick]

I'll be eagerly looking forward to the soon-to-be-announced reality TV version of "Orange is the New Black", starting the members of The Dark Overlord hacker group.

How do you trust Hitler?

[DidgetMaster]

Maybe the companies just decided that the extortionist was probably going to leak the videos anyway. Once the ransom is paid, there is absolutely nothing preventing him from releasing it. It's not like he has any morals whatsoever that might prevent him from double-crossing them. So it's just better to keep the money and not give an incentive for the next pirate hacker to try it too.

Re:At Least It Was Their Own Content

[sg_oneill]

Luckily it's Netflix's own IP that was leaked, and it won't affect their partnerships with other studios, although they obviously need to get a handle on their security.

From the sounds of it they hacked the studio, not netflix themselves

New Girl? Really?

[porges]

"New Girl" has finished its season and has not even been renewed yet, so there are no unreleased episodes of that. So..huh?

Re: HOW I GOT A BLANK ATM

[DontBeAMoran]

1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20500
U.S.A.

Re:Give me the rest of season 3 of The Leftovers!

[Sir Holo]

Not a show that is already spent. ;)

I just watched the pilot of the Leftovers. Bo-o-o-oring!

And it coming from the guy who was responsible for "Lost", all Haley's dream, is three strikes against it already. Bringing in the supernatural once you've painted yourself into a corner is lazy writing.

I threw the rest of the Leftovers into the garbage disposal.

Re:Did I wake up two days ago?

[mwvdlee]

An 48 hour timezone difference? Do you understand the concept of "day"?

Re:At Least It Was Their Own Content

[mwvdlee]

Or maybe Netflix was like; "The first 10 episodes and not the final 3 episodes of the season? Wow, we couldn't have planned this any better ourselves!".

Contract?

[mwvdlee]

A signed contract with an extortionist... WTF?

I whose mind did the idea to sign a contract in any way make any sense at all?

Either the hacker had to give away his complete identity in a contract that isn't legally binding (because... you know... the extortion part of the contract), or the studio had to sign a contract that is not enforcable by the hacker without giving away his complete identity (and once again, is not legally binding in any way).

Celebrity Apprentice, NCIS LA, and a XXX sequel?

[scourfish]

Wow, those all sound like high profile works of entertainment and not garbage. I'm sure going to be disappointed at all the spoilers from the masses frantically downloading and watching these quality shows.

Re:Bill Nye Saves The World

[SuiteSisterMary]

Well, in the first bit, he's not calling out segregation or cultural appropriation, he's saying 'don't use exotic religious symbology to give false authority to your bullshit' and explicitly calls out Deepak Chopra for doing it.

The second video is a guy saying, first, "I haven't even watched this show, just some random, out of context clips", then saying "I don't understand incentive-based economics, therefore they can't be real" and "I don't understand that science might have changed in twenty years."