The government is to crack down on the sale of illegal set-top boxes for Internet portal television (IPTV), the National Communications Commission (NCC) said yesterday, adding that the punishment would apply to manufacturers, distributors and retailers of the illegal devices.
Sellers complain that the devices give viewers unrestricted access to online content, the commission said.
However, not only are they not certified for safety, but sellers could infringe on copyright regulations by airing content without authorization from distributors and users could risk leaking personal information to third parties, it added.
The commission said the crackdown would not only apply to manufacturers of the boxes, but also to distributors and sellers, who would be penalized based the types of violations committed and the amount of profit made from selling the devices.
The commission last week fined Taipei-based HE Technology Information Co NT$140,000 for violating Article 49 of the Telecommunications Act (電信法) by selling uncertified IPTV set-top boxes.
The government requires that certification be acquired for the boxes to regulate the allocation and emission of radio waves and ensure that their use would not interfere with other electronic devices, the commission said.
These devices cannot be mass-produced, imported, sold or displayed publicly without first being certified, it said.
The commission also said that its certification only applies to the function of the radio-frequency devices and not to the content that could be accessed by them.
“When applying for certification, manufacturers must also submit an affidavit to guarantee that they are not violating regulations related to intellectual property rights,” the commission said.
“Manufacturers risk having their certifications annulled if a court rules that they have violated intellectual property regulations,” it added.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Taiwan is to have nine extended holidays next year, led by a nine-day Lunar New Year break, the Cabinet announced yesterday. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year matches the length of this year’s holiday, which featured six extended holidays. The increase in extended holidays is due to the Act on the Implementation of Commemorative and Festival Holidays (紀念日及節日實施條例), which was passed early last month with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party. Under the new act, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve is also a national holiday, and Labor Day would no longer be limited
COMMITMENTS: The company had a relatively low renewable ratio at 56 percent and did not have any goal to achieve 100 percent renewable energy, the report said Pegatron Corp ranked the lowest among five major final assembly suppliers in progressing toward Apple Inc’s commitment to be 100 percent carbon neutral by 2030, a Greenpeace East Asia report said yesterday. While Apple has set the goal of using 100 percent renewable energy across its entire business, supply chain and product lifecycle by 2030, carbon emissions from electronics manufacturing are rising globally due to increased energy consumption, it said. Given that carbon emissions from its supply chain accounted for more than half of its total emissions last year, Greenpeace East Asia evaluated the green transition performance of Apple’s five largest final
The first tropical storm of the year in the western North Pacific, Wutip (蝴蝶), has formed over the South China Sea and is expected to move toward Hainan Island off southern China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. The agency said a tropical depression over waters near the Paracel and Zhongsha islands strengthened into a tropical storm this morning. The storm had maximum sustained winds near its center of 64.8kph, with peak gusts reaching 90kph, it said. Winds at Beaufort scale level 7 — ranging from 50kph to 61.5kph — extended up to 80km from the center, it added. Forecaster Kuan Hsin-ping
RSS