Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1494707
5 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 12 MARCH 2023 proved, Borg Manché immedi- ately reacted by appealing the decision in front of the Envi- ronment and Planning Review Tribunal and starting a peti- tion signed by over 8,000 res- idents. The decision was still confirmed on appeal, but since the whole garden was devolved to the council in 2000, the Lands Authority had to com- mence procedures to take away a chunk of the garden from the council, to give it to the owner of the petrol pump. The coun- cil fought tooth and nail and emerged victorious when a tri- bunal revoked the Lands Au- thority's decision. The Lands Authority is now appealing the decision. "Ramona Attard has the right to work as a lawyer, but this is also a matter of principle... she is also the president of a social- ist party. How can you fight against a socialist mayor to take land from the public to give it to private interests?" Borg Manché makes it clear that he is not against the re- location of the petrol station, acknowledging that this is an eye-sore, but insists this should never be relocated in a public garden, not just because of the take-up of garden space but al- so because of the carcinogenic fumes emitted from it and the impact on the children and families who frequent the gar- den. "Gżira is one of the most densely populated localities in Malta. How can it even cross their mind to put a petrol sta- tion in one of the few lungs of the locality?" Opera onal Programme I – European Structural and Investment Funds 2014-2020 "Fostering a compe ve and sustainable economy to meet our challenges" Project part-financed by the Cohesion Fund Co-financing rate: 85% European Union Funds; 15% Na onal Funds PROMOTING NON-CONVENTIONAL WATER RESOURCES IN MALTA A CONFERENCE BY THE ENERGY & WATER AGENCY TOGETHER WITH THE GLOBAL WATER PARTNERSHIP (MEDITERRANEAN) ON JOIN US FOR THE LAUNCH OF THE 4TH PHASE OF THE ALTERAQUA PROGRAM! THIS YEAR'S FOCUS IS ON PROMOTING NON-CONVENTIONAL WATER RESOURCES (NCWR), WITH A PARTICULAR EMPHASIS ON RAINWATER HARVESTING APPLICATIONS. NCWR IS AN INCREASINGLY CRITICAL TOPIC AS THE MALTESE ISLANDS SEEK TO ADAPT TO CLIMATE CHANGE AND IMPROVE WATER EFFICIENCY. THE CONFERENCE WILL BRING TOGETHER FOREIGN AND LOCAL EXPERTS WHO WILL SHARE THEIR BEST PRACTICES AND FRAMEWORKS FOR INTEGRATING NCWR INTO INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT (IWRM) PLANNING. FOLLOWING EACH SESSION, WE WILL HOLD A PANEL DISCUSSION TO ENCOURAGE STAKEHOLDERS TO CONTRIBUTE THEIR IDEAS AND OPINIONS AND GAIN A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF THE TOPIC. REGISTER BY SENDING AN EMAIL ON INFO@EMCS.COM.MT OR CALL US AT +356 27772777 WED 15TH MARCH 2023, 9:00 TILL 16:30 AT ESPLORA Il-Birgu Cittá Vittoriosa Bormla Cittá Cospicua L'isla Cittá Invicta Il-Kalkara MARIANNA CALLEJA THE Malta Information Technology Agen- cy (MITA) has blocked the popular social media app TikTok on all government devic- es unless users have a 'Standards Plus' inter- net package. Concerns have grown throughout the world that the software may be used for espionage by Beijing-linked groups, with huge data leaks to China, or critical infor- mation falling into the wrong hands. The Maltese government has been dis- cussing the ramifications of TikTok for transparency and privacy policies. Whereas the United States has labelled TikTok an "addictive drug", the Europe- an Commission believes TikTok spied on journalists by utilising their IP addresses. TikTok, whose parent company is Chi- nese-owned ByteDance, has been banned from electronic devices managed by the US House of Representatives. And the European Council, as well European Par- liament secretary-general Alessandro Chi- occhetti, has instructed that TikTok be removed from work devices by 20 March. In comments to MaltaToday, MITA re- vealed that technical conversations, espe- cially on TikTok, had already taken place, saying that for the time being it is current- ly only restricted from certain government devices, such as other social networking sites. "The dangers associated with TikTok may be grouped as data gathering, per- sonal identifiable, possible software tam- pering by TikTok users' devices, and pos- sible manipulation of material designed to influence public opinion," MITA said to MaltaToday. TikTok usage via a web browser, accord- ing to the public entity, has a risk profile comparable to other website-based social media because it is completely confined within a web browser. "These scenarios are common to most similar applications so the risk would be compounded by the way privacy/transparency policies are written and how they are enforced and by who." A spate of complaints filed by European authorities contesting the company's use of Europeans' data over privacy concerns is fuelling the fury against the video-shar- ing app, which is used by over 250 million Europeans. Ongoing probes, including Ireland, Ro- mania and Italy, are costing the social me- dia firm, millions in fines. Several nations have even fined the app, such as the Dutch data protection regula- tor, which fined TikTok €750,000 in 2021 for abusing children's privacy. Several European countries opted to adopt a different approach. While some countries, such as Belgium and Finland, elected to entirely restrict the app, others chose to wait and assess the situation be- fore making a final decision. The United Kingdom, Spain, Slova- kia, Slovenia, Greece, Latvia, and Austria are all keeping an eye on the situation in neighbouring countries before making a decision. In Luxembourg, Bulgaria, and Poland the app is under investigation. TikTok banned on government devices over espionage fears