ISP liability: Norwegian Consumer Council warns consumers not to sign letter of guilt

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Norwegian law firm Simonsen has just recently sent a letter to a large number of Norwegian ISP’s, ordering them to contact some 300 customers, suspected of illegal file sharing, and make them sign a statement where they accept responsibility of illegal file sharing and renounce all future illegal file sharing.

Øyvind Herseth Kaldestad Informasjonsrådgiver/pressekontakt , 28.03.2008 13:28

The letter has been sent on behalf of the Norwegian video association, a rights holders association, and is based upon a number of IP addresses collected by Simonsen under a provisional grant from the Norwegian Data Inspectorate.

- Under no circumstance should a consumer sign this statement letter, says legal officer of Norwegian Consumer Council (NCC) Hans Marius Graasvold. The letter makes the consumer liable for both former and future file acts of file sharing, both on his own behalf and on behalf of other users of the same IP address.

- The statement deprives the consumer of due process and puts him in a state of critical legal uncertainty, with practically unlimited legal responsibility, Graasvold comments. – We cannot imagine that this law firm would ever advice their own clients to sign such a letter!

The NCC commends the Norwegian ISP association for reacting promptly to this action, and for advising their members not to circulate the letter to their end users.

The letter from Simonsen builds upon the assumption that the ISPs are in fact legally responsible for end user activity, and that the end user is responsible for all illegal activity connected to his or hers respective IP address. Both these assumptions are highly questionable, both under Norwegian and international law, says Hans Marius Graasvold.

- NCC shares the view of the rights holders that copyright should be respected, but stresses the fact that violation of copyright law – as in all other cases of unlawful activity – should be addressed by courts and courts alone!

- This latest attempt from the rights holders association and Simonsen is an unacceptable way of trying to put aside the legal system as a whole, and leave it to private actors to uphold justice. Where else would someone even suggest that private, commercial actors should carry out police and court authority?

Simonsen holds that ISPs, upon suspicion of copyright infringement, should shut down the consumer’s Internet connection. Hans Marius Graasvold of NCC holds that this would be grossly disproportionate to the alleged offence. – Today, Internet connection is regarded as a service of general good, and closing someone’s Internet access in such cases would be a violation of that person’s human right to participate in society, says Graasvold.

- Under no circumstance should a consumer sign this statement letter, says legal officer of Norwegian Consumer Council (NCC) Hans Marius Graasvold. (Foto: Knut Falch)