Telenor refuses to block access to The Pirate Bay

Telenor refuses to block access to The Pirate Bay Tuesday 3 March 2009

Telenor has rejected the demand of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry IFPI to block access to the Swedish website The Pirate Bay. The operator found there is no legal basis for demanding ISPs to control or assess the content users download. At the same time, Telenor does not condone pirating of material and illegal file-sharing. In a letter to the legal firm Simonsen Advokatfirma, Telenor rejected the demand the lawyers put forward on behalf of the IFPI, the Norwegian videogram association (Norsk Videogramforening) and the Norwegian Film Distributors Association (Norske Filmbyraers Forening), to block access to the Swedish website The Pirate Bay. In Telenor's opinion, ISPs do not get involved in the actions of their customers on the internet. Telenor says ISPs are not the problem, rather the rights holders themselves. Telenor believes it is the rights holder's job to develop sustainable business models for content delivery over the internet. The entertainment industry is currently suing The Piracte Bay for damages in Sweden.