Norwegian Court Rules ISP Doesn't Have To Block The Pirate Bay

C4st13v4n14 writes "In a sudden outbreak of uncommon sense yesterday, a Norwegian District Court handed down the decision that Telenor, Norway's largest ISP, will not have to block access to The Pirate Bay. Telenor was sued earlier this year by the IFPI after being threatened and not backing down. 'The court ruled that Telenor is not contributing to any infringements of copyright law when its subscribers use The Pirate Bay, and therefore there is no legal basis for forcing the ISP to block access to the site. ... In making its decision, the court also had to examine the repercussions if it ruled that Telenor and other ISPs had to block access to certain websites.'"

Comments

I'm thinking about moving to Norway

[MrLeap]

Why is norway always ahead of the curve in nearly everything?

Re:I'm thinking about moving to Norway

[Narpak]

In a sudden outbreak of uncommon sense yesterday..

I shall be a bit pedantic that this isn't the first time the Norwegian courts actually use reason and rational assessment before issuing a verdict.

A man was taken to court for uploading a pirated version of the Norwegian movie "Falne Engler" and was let go with a warning. This and the fact that Kripos (special investigation unit) refused to "waste resources" investigating illegal file sharing (though also because of the current Norwegian law makes it difficult to prosecute anyone for file sharing); has members of the Norwegian movie/music/whatever lobby fuming.
Rudimentary translated quote from Ketil Haukaas, assistant chief of Kripos
We have dedicated investigators in some areas, like war crimes and internet related abuse of children. File sharing doesn't not warrant that kind of priority

Vi har dedikerte etterforskere på noen områder, som krigsforbrytelser og internettrelaterte overgrep mot barn. Problemområdet fildeling tilsier ikke en slik prioritet at det er en fornuftig vei å gå

Up to the point that article was written (in 2008) 182 reports of illegal file sharing had been delivered by IFPI; four were investigated and the only case "solved" was the one I mentioned earlier where the perpetrator was let go with a warning.

So this "out break of common sense" wasn't exactly sudden.

Re:I'm thinking about moving to Norway

[Narpak]

From the Huffingtonpost article "Norway's consistently high rating for desirable living standards, is, in large part, the result of the discovery of offshore oil and gas deposits in the late 1960s."

What isn't mentioned is that when oil and gas were discovered the Norwegian government decided to nationalize those resources (meaning state owned and operated) as the profit from such industry should benefit all the citizens of Norway. They then proceeded to borrow tons of money from various other nations with security in future revenue and spent that money (and the mentioned future revenue; now past and present revenue) to invest heavily in infrastructure (schools, hospitals, roads and etc). Also they offered public scholarships and decent student loans to everyone with the grades to get into a University; as a highly educated population was, and is, seen as beneficial to Norwegian society.

Norway, as the other nations of Scandinavia (to a varying degree); are Social democracies (as in Socialist Democracies); which is held, at least by the center->left side of politics (and to be fair some on the right in Norway are to the left of those on the left in nations like the US) as the reason for our high standard of living up to this point.

Re:I'm thinking about moving to Norway

[sopssa]

Exactly, and it's the same in all scandinavian countries (for all alcohol). Majority comes from the insane taxation of alcohol, which is supposed to increase general health.

Re:I'm thinking about moving to Norway

[Anonymous Coward]

Us Norwegians really come out in full on slashdot whenever we're mentioned, don't we.

Anyway, we have to realize that much of our "success" has been pure luck, in the form of the above mentioned oil. I for one am not so sure how well our social democracy will fare once the oil runs out. It's a fantastic place to live while it lasts, but when it ends there's no substantial source of income to replace it with.

Re:I'm thinking about moving to Norway

[hasdikarlsam]

As studies show (and yes, I've read the studies; they make sense), it does.

Re:I'm thinking about moving to Norway

[Khenke]

I'm from Sweden and have on and off for 20 years been thinking of moving to Norway
A move for me would be easy, as we are close neighbors and a lot like each others. I understand them speaking and they me (almost like US and UK english).

Why have I been thinking about a move?
Several reasons.
Easier to get a job than i Sweden (I been in IT for my whole life) is one reason.
They actually go in the right direction in the development of their country. Sweden implements more and more stupid laws, so soon we have zero freedom here.
The people a very nice and pleasant, like the northern Sweden.
It's really expensive in Norway, but the salary are higher. It's a chock for us in Sweden to have foreigners come here and buy cheep, as we tend to go to Denmark or Germany for our shopping (not only alcohol).

For me Norway is what Sweden SHOULD be. We are going down in the top list of most educated, best welfare, healthcare and so on while they go the other way. They have always been our "small" brother and they have been looking up to us, but that have changed and we are now looking up to them.
Our politicians are almost as corrupt as in the US, when they in Norway somehow has been able to resist getting sick with power.

If only illegal file sharing was my only concern, there a cheep 100% secure solutions for $10/month that fixes that for me. But I'm soon living in something worse than a police state, a corporation state where Hollywood companies have more rights that I do.
I like my Fon hotspot, but soon I risk going to jail for what others do on it. Soon the state will know where I am 100% of the time (tracking my credit card, mobile phone, SMS, email and so on), and soon there after all the Hollywood companies will have the same information. One of our courts has already broken our constitution with no reprimand what so ever (forcing ISP to dissconnect the Pirate Bay site is not legal in Sweden due to Mere Conduit).

We in the western world are going for a second Dark Ages very fast, but most people are blind to what are happening or just don't care. I guess that in 20 years china will have to take on our political refugees...
One of the few country's resisting is Norway, that is the reason I'm very much thinking about moving there now. And that almost every Norwegian girl I have met has been lovely and sweet don't make it worse.

Re:I'm thinking about moving to Norway

[C4st13v4n14]

It's interesting to me that every single person I've ever met in Norway who lives in Oslo regards the rest of Norway as "the sticks". I have lived in three different parts of Norway, Oslo being one of them. I'm from a large city and Oslo was more like a village than city. I didn't even know how to describe it before a Norwegian called it that. Oslo is okay, there are things happening there and interesting people, there are good restaurants, shops, bars, clubs, cinemas. People outside of Oslo tell me "Oslo is not Norway" whilst people from Oslo tell me "Norway is Oslo". It's all your point of view. I'm reporting on my experiences alone. I have quite a few friends here, but they're all foreigners. I am not intellectually stimulated by Norwegians at the least. The conversations doctors have at lunch revolve around one or two topics. At this time of year, it's cross country skiing. I work with four other doctors in a practice and all we can talk about at lunch is that or swineflu. It was the same when I was working at a major hospital.

The women, in perfect honesty, beat out most American women almost every single time. But I've travelled extensively and I have lived in many places, not just here and in Eastern Europe. The women here pale in comparison to most other European women. Take another country I've lived in, a small one called Iceland. The people there are spectacular. I love them to death. The women? Absolutely fabulous. They refer to Norwegian women as "burger butts". They are a very open and warm people who speak English very well. I felt very accepted there. The bad? Well, they're broke for one. Also, it's impossible to get a job there.

One pet peeve of mine here in Norway is that about 90% of Norwegians don't even try to pronounce my typical English name correctly. When I introduce myself, many of them look down and say "ja vel" (translation: um, okay). It often seems like a put down a lot of the time because many people I have daily dealings with repeatedly mispronounce it. Please. It's a very easy name to pronounce. I've been told that the reason for this is that Norwegians don't like to make mistakes, so they won't try to pronounce my name right for fear of that. When I take a patient into my office for a consultation, about 50% react in the stereotypical xenophobic way when I shake their hands and introduce myself as their doctor and tell them my name. About 30% are embarrassed and try to say it. 10% are just happy I'm there and enthusiastic about getting seen. 10% get it right and become interested in me as a person and ask me where I'm from. I'm of course not here to be asked where I'm from, but it's nice once in a while when someone takes an interest in you. That's a major issue in this culture. I haven't figured out if it's egotism or what, but no one seems interested in each other. I feel like I have good contact with and form a bond with a very small percentage of my patients. There's a good book that describes the people here exactly. I read it in German, the title was Pferden stehlen (Stealing Horses). It might be that in English. Anyway, at one point in the story it's summer and a guy moves into a house out in the country. He looks out his window and sees his neighbour's house and says to himself "hmmm, I think I'll drop by and say hello after Christmas." Haha. To me, that's unbelievable. It takes people here a very long time to warm up to you and people are very happy to stay in the same job in the same place for 30 years. It's almost admired. Someone like me who likes to see the world, experience different cultures, and meet different people are seen with suspicion. I think that having an understand or at least experience with many different cultures is an asset. People here don't see it like that. Since people here travel very little aside from countries like Turkey, Greece, and Spain, they really have nothing to talk about with me.

The other thing that gets me about this first 50% of people who see me with suspicion or loo

Re:I'm thinking about moving to Norway

[Narpak]

Anyway, we have to realize that much of our "success" has been pure luck, in the form of the above mentioned oil. I for one am not so sure how well our social democracy will fare once the oil runs out. It's a fantastic place to live while it lasts, but when it ends there's no substantial source of income to replace it with.

The presence of oil and gas and the benefit to the Norwegian economy could be said to be luck; how that profit was managed was not however. Though I do agree that the oil have made our nation somewhat more complacent than we should.

However at this point oil export is about half the total exports of the country which is fairly substantial; but we are by no means without other "sources of income". Though I shall agree that some of our other industries have been neglected as our focus was on oil and gas. There are room for expansion and I do not fear our nations economical future as we have access to other resources and a large potential for growth in several sectors. And our most important asset is a very high average educational level (though it should be driven ever higher).

Re:I'm thinking about moving to Norway

[hkmwbz]

I am not intellectually stimulated by Norwegians at the least. The conversations doctors have at lunch revolve around one or two topics.

Maybe you are just hanging around with the wrong crowd. It seems odd to describe 4-5 million Norwegian based on a bunch of rich dudes around a table.

Take another country I've lived in, a small one called Iceland. The people there are spectacular. I love them to death. The women? Absolutely fabulous. They refer to Norwegian women as "burger butts".

Burger butts? Sounds like you are making stuff up as you go along.

They are a very open and warm people who speak English very well.

That's odd, because Norwegians are well known for their English skills. I don't have the same experience with people from Iceland.

One pet peeve of mine here in Norway is that about 90% of Norwegians don't even try to pronounce my typical English name correctly. ... I've been told that the reason for this is that Norwegians don't like to make mistakes, so they won't try to pronounce my name right for fear of that. When I take a patient into my office for a consultation, about 50% react in the stereotypical xenophobic way when I shake their hands and introduce myself as their doctor and tell them my name.

Ok, so because they are afraid to make a mistake when pronouncing your name, they are xenophobic?

10% get it right and become interested in me as a person and ask me where I'm from. I'm of course not here to be asked where I'm from, but it's nice once in a while when someone takes an interest in you.

As an American, you should know that Americans are among the most superficial people on the planet. Americans don't ask because they really care. Seriously. You of all people should know that. Norwegians seem to be less happy about superficial small-talk.

That's a major issue in this culture. I haven't figured out if it's egotism or what, but no one seems interested in each other.

Or maybe they just aren't as superficial as Americans generally are?

The other thing that gets me about this first 50% of people who see me with suspicion or look down on me is that no matter what I do, they will always think that they're better than me and I will never be accepted.

How do you know that they look down on you? And how are these people who look down on you anyway?

they don't get much exposure to the outside world

Apart from their media being completely dominated by foreign productions, you mean? Especially American movies and music.

All of the foreigners I've met here have the same things to say about it, especially my American countrymen.

Funny, I have the opposite experience. One has to wonder why you feel the need to invent these things.

Good for them

[Myrcutio]

Sounds like great news for everyone. A precedent that helps stand against widespread banning of websites can only be a good thing for net neutrality. Means liability for illegal actions can't be retroactively inherited.

Re:Pirate Bay?

[Dan541]

The good guys always win, well not always but as a collective we pirates are holding our ground pretty darn well. Especially when you consider that we can't afford to buy any of our laws.

Background info on Telenor

[Sheen]

I would like to add some information about Telenor. Telenor is state owned, 54% of the shares belong to the people/Norwegian state. They have close to 200 million customers worldwide. So this is a big operator in the Telecom world. They have about 43 000 employees. Today, I am proud to be Norwegian.

Re:Pirate Bay?

[TheRaven64]

The good guys always win

This is true, although largely because the winners who win retroactively define themselves as the good guys.