Up until now, Norwegian file-sharers were pretty safe from prosecution, since Norway's privacy rules prevented copyright holders to get the real identities behind IP addresses. This is more than likely to change now, though, since Norway's Post and Telecommunications Regulator decided that ISPs can be forced by a judge to "hand over the names and addresses of illicit file-sharers to copyright holders. This means that they can now be pursued through the courts, or more likely, through "pay up or else" type threats.

The decision to allow courts to force ISPs to hand over file-sharers' details relates to one particular case brought by Simonsen, a company that is licensed to investigate illegal file-sharing on the web. It's believed that the decision will be applied to future requests of the same nature.

Interestingly, the decision of the telecoms regulator opposes the views of the Norwegian Minister of Education who believes that the music industry should embrace the Internet instead of fighting it. "All previous technology advances have led to fears that the older format would die. But TV did not kill radio, the Web did not kill the book, and the download is not going to kill music." the Minister said earlier."