Lithuanian watchdog seeks to block illegal music streaming website

  • 2019-05-06
  • BNS/TBT Staff

VILNIUS - The Lithuanian Radio and Television Commission (LRTK) will seek a court order to block an illegal online music streaming service that gives access to over 90,000 Lithuanian and foreign tracks.  

LRT plans to adopt a decision on ordering Internet providers to block the website on Wednesday, Mantas Martisius, the commission's chairman, told BNS. 

The decision will have to be approved by a court within three days. 

"There is a complaint from the Lithuanian related rights association AGATA about a copyright infringement on the Internet. It contains a very large number of tracks. If members of the commission agree and the court gives the go-ahead, the website should be blocked," Martisius said. 

The watchdog does not name the website so as not to encourage more illegal downloads.  

Andrius Katinas of the LRTK Supervision Division told BNS that mirror sites are available on the Internet, but the watchdog will now try to block one of them.  

"The website provides access to over 90,000 tracks, including around 12,000 Lithuanian ones, without the consent of the copyright owners. Music can be streamed online or downloaded," Katinas said.  

"The administrator of the website is not known," he added. 

LRTK has in the past ordered the file-sharing site Linkomanija.net to be blocked in Lithuania, but the site remains accessible to some users.