Copyright holders and anti-piracy companies have been dealt a blow in their attempts to monitor and track down student file-sharers in Norway. Following a decision by the Data Inspectorate, universities will not be allowed to spy on the online activities of their students and data gathered for network maintenance purposes will kept well away from rightsholders and lawyers.
Norway’s Ministry of Culture has just proposed legislative changes designed to further crack down on illicit file-sharing. In addition to smoothing the way for Internet users to be monitored more easily by rightsholders, amendments have been tabled which would order file-sharing sites to be blocked at the ISP level. Top of the list, The Pirate Bay.
September 1st will see the start of a new anti-filesharing initiative. The petition called “Share – Do Not Steal” is currently supported by 1,750 copyright holders and 36 groups including record, movie, TV and games companies. It will be publicized in Norway’s press tomorrow morning.
Just days after Norway’s data protection department told ISPs they must delete all personal IP address-related data three weeks after collection, it’s now become safer than ever to be a file-sharer in Norway. The only law firm with a license to track pirates has just seen it expire and it won’t be renewed.
Norway’s data protection department has indicated that ISPs must delete all personal IP address-related data just 3 weeks after collection. The instruction, initially given to two ISPs but applicable to them all, means that it will be incredibly difficult to take action against file-sharers.
The recently implemented IPRED legislation in Sweden makes it easier for copyright holders to identify and go after alleged illegal file-sharers. Up until now the same hasn’t been easy in Norway, but all that is set to change as the country’s telecoms regulator says that file-sharers identities can be given to copyright holders.
Two weeks ago the music industry, headed by the IFPI, gave Norway’s largest Internet provider ‘Telenor’ an ultimatum; block access to The Pirate Bay within 14 days or we will take you to court. The ISP has now announced that it wont give in to IFPI’s demands, lawsuit or not.
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