Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1311619
16 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 22 NOVEMBER 2020 NEWS Adapt for the future. Shane felt it was time for his business to take a step further. So he contacted the local Enterprise Europe Network to explore all the opportunities available to SMEs in the EU. The Enterprise Europe Network helped him find the right sources of new capital, loans or grants to bring his company to a higher level. Find out how the Enterprise Europe Network can support your business : enterprise-europemalta.com Shane A. Hunter CEO, AquaBioTech Group Looking to develop your business in a changing world ? Telcos ready to bring down illegal IPTV services KARL AZZOPARDI T E L E C O M M U N I C A T I O N companies GO and Melita have expressed their determination at helping authorities in bringing to an end illegal IPTV streaming services. Last week a police action trig- gered by an Italian clampdown on illegal streaming of content, including Serie A football, saw raids carried out across Europe, including Malta. The European Union's Agency for Criminal Justice Coopera- tion (Eurojust) coordinated the action day, codenamed 'Oper- ation Perfect Storm', at the be- hest of Italy's Guardia di Finanza through a European Investiga- tion Order (EIO). In Malta, raids were coordinat- ed by the Financial Crimes In- vestigations Department (FCID) and the Cybercrime Unit of the Police Force. No arrests were made but searches carried out in Qormi and St Paul's Bay in properties owned by one indi- vidual, yielded the confiscation of around 150 devices, together with approximately 48 Smart Satellite Cards, two smart- phones and around €13,000 in cash. The investigations also saw IMG, the streaming agency for Serie A and other major Euro- pean leagues, file a court injunc- tion calling on internet service providers and digital terrestri- al TV platforms, like GO and Melita who legitimately stream matches in Malta, to terminate internet access to individuals or organisations found to be broad- casting illegal Serie A content through IPTV. "Melita can confirm that it has, in cooperation with its peers in the industry, put in place the necessary procedures to identify illegal IPTV streams. As a result of these procedures a number of illegal broadcasts have been blocked," the company said. GO also said that it will be as- sisting the authorities in the best way it can. GO said telecoms can only block the sources (IP addresses) of the illegal servic- es once such IP addresses are provided to them by the rightful content owners, such as Serie A content providers, and following a court order to block such con- tent. "These actions will not have any impact on the internet con- nection of customers," Melita said. Both companies said that in terms of internet usage, IPTV has limited effects on internet usage by neighbouring house- holds. "GO has adequately di- mensioned its network to meet every customer's internet usage demand, no matter what the type of content consumed is," it said. Melita confirmed that to date, despite taking up significant bandwidth during simultane- ous viewing of live events, IPTV services have rarely affected the internet speeds of other custom- ers. But the companies did warn that use of illegal services might pose various security risks. "Ille- gal IPTV applications, installed on devices within a household, often contain various security vulnerabilities, that could put the customer's internet quality and security at risks," GO said. Melita stated that illegal streamers are often hacked and this can leave consumers' devic- es and home networks open to viruses and other malware. EOne seller who advertises IP- TV on Facebook's marketplace told MaltaToday that he was not concerned about the recent ac- tion since he was only a reseller of the boxes and his main source of income did not come from the streaming devices.