The Radio and Television Commission of Lithuania (LRTK) is flexing its newfound legal authority to penalize individuals involved in online piracy. This expanded power has already led to several rulings, and this week, the media watchdog escalated its efforts by imposing monetary fines on over two dozen culprits. All the targets were identified through their IP addresses and were linked to the private torrent tracker Linkomanija.
This summer, Lithuania made a significant change to its Code of Administrative Offenses, granting LRTK the ability to fine pirates without needing court proceedings. This legislative alteration is the most recent initiative aimed at deterring piracy within the European nation, hoping that the possibility of fines will make pirates rethink their activities.
Tracking down online pirates may sound like a formidable strategy, but it’s not always a straightforward task. Determining who uses pirate streaming sites or direct download portals is often tricky unless those services are compromised. However, tracking BitTorrent pirates is comparatively more straightforward, as Torrent users broadcast their IP addresses publicly, which can be monitored by external parties. This is why most legal actions against individual pirates target BitTorrent users.
LRTK is aware of this, as the first three fines issued in August were directed at BitTorrent users. What’s intriguing in this context is that LRTK specifically singled out users of the private torrent tracker, Linkomanija.
Linkomanija, hosted at LinkoManija.net, is the largest torrent site in Lithuania, with a legendary local presence. The site has been operating for more than two decades and continues to thrive. While it officially operates as a private community, many locals have access to it, including the media watchdog’s partner for tracking piracy.
This week, LRTK announced that it had imposed fines on twenty-five additional individuals who were allegedly sharing copyright-infringing content through LinkoManija. In all cases, these offenders were found to be sharing pirated versions of films owned by local movie companies.
According to the watchdog, “LRTK found that audiovisual works protected by copyright – the films ‘Tu mano Deimantas,’ ‘Hypnotic,’ and ‘Paradas’ – were illegally reproduced and made public on the linkomanija.net website without copyright consent from their IP addresses.”
It’s important to note that IP addresses don’t necessarily identify individuals. In essence, the fines are directed at the people responsible for paying the internet bills, who may not necessarily be the actual pirates. Despite this technicality, authorities seem undeterred and have issued 140-euro fines to all identified subscribers, which is half of the maximum allowed penalty. Should the same ‘people’ persist in their piracy activities, potential fines can reach up to 850 euros.
This latest wave of fines is the largest thus far. In August, three individuals were penalized, and eight more followed in September, bringing the total to thirty-six culprits linked to the same torrent tracker.
LRTK has issued a stern warning to all Lithuanians, particularly Linkomanija users, emphasizing that their efforts to combat piracy are far from over. The watchdog intends to continue using its legal powers to monitor piracy activities and reduce the country’s piracy rate.
As for the private torrent tracker, Linkomanija, it remains accessible online, at least for the time being. While a court had previously ordered the country’s largest internet service providers to block the site, people have managed to find workarounds to access it nonetheless.
