IFPI wants ISP to act as a censor
Posted by cabalamat on 2009-Jul-11
IFPI wants the Norwegian ISP Telenor to act as a censor. Fortunately, Telenor has refused to do so:
This spring IFPI gave Norway’s largest Internet provider Telenor an ultimatum. The music industry group demanded that the ISP should block access to The Pirate Bay within 14 days – or face legal action. Telenor ignored the legal threats and IFPI kept its word and took the ISP to court.
IFPI and representatives from the movie industry argue that Telenor is willingly infringing copyright by allowing its customers to access the prominent BitTorrent tracker, but Telenor disagrees with this assessment. In a public announcement today Telenor explains why.
“If Telenor were considered complicit in any illegal activities online, we would have to block access to websites and customers on any suspicion of illegal activity. Telenor would then act as some sort of private police or private censorship authority, which would be very worrisome in light of important issues such as freedom of speech,” Telenor writes.
