📰 New article from TorrentFreak
Lithuania Pitches Pirate Site Blocking as Defense Against “Hybrid Warfare,” Including Russian Disinformation
### Lithuania’s New Playbook: Piracy is Now “Hybrid Warfare”
If you thought copyright enforcement was just about protecting big movie studios, think again. In Lithuania, the fight against piracy has officially entered the realm of national security.
The country’s media watchdog, LRTK, isn’t just looking to stop illegal streams; they’re framing pirate sites as a front for “hybrid warfare.” The logic? Many unlicensed IPTV services retransmit sanctioned Russian state channels, effectively acting as a Trojan horse for disinformation. By blocking these illegal streams, Lithuania claims it is simultaneously cutting off propaganda and protecting its citizens.
But the crackdown isn’t just about politics—it’s about cybersecurity, too. The LRTK points to past leaks from local pirate sites where user data, including plain-text passwords of government officials, ended up on the dark web. To them, a pirate site is essentially a goldmine for hostile state actors looking for credentials to hack state institutions.
Lithuania’s “automated” approach is incredibly fast—blocking domains across all ISPs within 20 minutes—but it’s also a cautionary tale. When the Netherlands tried to adopt similar blocklists, they accidentally nuked legitimate Indian social media and radio aggregators.
The takeaway: While aggressive blocking might secure a border, copying someone else’s “security” list without care can lead to some very accidental internet blackouts.