The Chamber of Trade and Industry Kosovo (CTIK) once again, through a letter addressed to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, has asked the Government that ART does not allow the use of IP of Serbia in Kosovo, as they are continuously damaging the media business with millions of euros per year, while in other hand violates the sovereignty of the Republic of Kosovo.
The Chamber of Trade and Industry, in a press release, has raised the concern that the state-owned Telecom of Kosovo is continuing to use Serbia’s IP.
“This is how the data comes out with Telekom e Kosova in Pristina: Taking into account that currently Kosovo does not have the right to own the Internet code (ccTLD), the request of CTIK now was and remains to fix the problem of providers and the elimination of the use of IP addresses from Serbia and the latter to be immediately replaced with those of Albania, so that the advertisements on the website appear in the Albanian language. The new global marketing system places ads on websites and portals based on each country’s IP. According to CTIK, the non-regulation of IP Addresses, although addressed for some time, remains a problem for businesses, specifically for the media sector, which is facing their non-regulation. The Chamber of Trade considers that in this case, in addition to the losses that are being caused to businesses, another problem remains the damage to the image of our country in the national aspect, this is because instead of the presentation of the state of Kosovo, when we search in the link “What’s my IP address (https://whatismyipaddress.com/)”, the Serbian state appears”, the communique says.
The Chamber of Trade and Industry Kosovo has made the request in writing and has also met ARKEP.
“Given that we as a Chamber are constantly receiving complaints from citizens and from the media business, in which advertisements in the Serbian language are appearing at the bottom of the pages, where instead of advertisements and offers in the Albanian language , advertisement of a foreign country that is against the Republic of Kosovo, is being offered to the citizens and businesses. Therefore, the Chamber of Trade and Industry Kosovo, requests from the Prime Minister, the Government of Kosovo and the relevant ministries to establish rules for the use of IP addresses by cable operators. CTIK also asks the Internet Providers in Kosovo not to use Serbian IP because they are harming the businesses that are advertising through the Internet, namely websites and social networks”, the communiqué states.
