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Agnes Lam

Cable TV is technically impotent against unauthorised operators who keep coming up with more sophisticated technology to hack into its transmissions, a university expert says.

All the company can do is make more frequent changes to its code in the hope of causing illicit users so much trouble that they give up, said Victor Li On-kwok,  chair professor of the University of Hong Kong's information engineering department.

'It is very difficult to eliminate all illegal operators because their operating cost is very low,' he said. 'I do not think there is any technical skill that can be used to stop them.'

Code changes once forced users  to buy new smart cards from traders who operate openly in Apliu Street, Shamshuipo. But with the pirates' telephone and website hotlines, users can now just call or check on the internet for the new codes, Professor Li said.

'Cable TV can only change its frequency more often to create more  annoyance for the users,' he said. 'Hopefully they will give up in the end, as they have to call the hotline to find out the new code many times a day just to watch television.

'After they have suffered  frequent disruption when enjoying programmes they like,  they may  give up. This is the only way to stop them.'

Cable TV changed the code minutes before the start of the Euro 2004 soccer championships last June, leaving illicit viewers with blank screens.

Professor Li suggested drawing up legislation to make it illegal for people to use TV decoders and smart cards.

'If these pirates are doing business at Apliu Street so openly, the government can  deploy officers there to patrol around more often,' he said.

'The government can think about outlawing those who buy the machine and smart cards and use the service.'

He said cable television operators in the United States were suffering from the same problem.

'Television stations in America devote a lot of resources to tracking down the illegal users and operators and take them to court,' he said. 'Once they are located, cable operators will sue them and make an example out of them, so that they dare not run this kind of illegal business again.'



Operators technically impotent to stop hacking, says academic