HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS IS LEAKED

The first 36 minutes of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 landed online Monday night, sending BitTorrent sites into overdrive on Tuesday. Wired.com, which was the first news outlet to take notice of the posting, quoted a Warner Bros. spokesman as saying, “This constitutes a serious breach of copyright violation and theft of Warner Bros. property. We are working actively to restrict and/or remove copies that may be available. Also, we are vigorously investigating this matter and will prosecute those involved to the full extent of the law.” However, “Ernesto” (a pseudonym), who operates the Dutch-based website TorrentFreak.com, commented that the leak “may actually benefit the movie and boost theater attendance, as long as the full version doesn’t leak out too. If the first half-hour is compelling enough, people will have to go to the theater and pay for a ticket to see the rest. It may be going a little bit too far to suggest that Warner Bros. leaked the film intentionally, but from a business perspective it might make sense.”