The real problem is this entitlement mentality that if something is not offered to you, you have the right to just take it.<p>Torrenting of Game of Thrones most likely doesn&#x27;t hurt the show&#x27;s profits.  It&#x27;s one of the most popular shows on television today and HBO relies on subscription fees instead of advertising dollars.<p>This isn&#x27;t the case for a less popular show.  Shared shows don&#x27;t show up as tracked views and can and will affect real things like ratings and if a show gets picked up the next year.<p>The end result of this will be product placement right in the show, so sharing it will only help make money for the show creator.  It&#x27;s very similar to all of the people using Ad block: eventually, companies will have to resort to articles and content being one big advertisement.