According to an Associated Press report, a Norwegian telco Tele2 is
being fined around £26,600 because its customers posted illegal
pornography on the servers of its ISP service. While it is the
first of its kind in Norway, the case would be unusual for any
country’s laws if the circumstances are that Tele2 was unaware of
what was hosted on its servers and did not monitor them.
In most Western countries, ISPs are required to remove illegal
material from their servers as soon as they become aware of it; but
they are not required to actively police their servers.
Tele2’s lawyer, Erling O. Lyngtveidt, told AP: “This case asks
the question of whether a technical provider can be held
responsible for what thousands of people all over the world put on
their news server.” His company will challenge the fine in court
later this year.
Norwegian economic crime police said that the illegal material
was available for a long period of time to a large number of
people, arguing that the company could have used tighter controls
to stop its spread.
