Norwegian minister wants to legalize file-sharing

The Norwegian Minister of Education, Bård Vegar Solhjell, has wrote on his blog that he will examine the possiblities for legalizing file-sharing in his country.

Soljhell, a member of the Socialist Left Party (SV), is obviously a fan of file sharing. In his weblog he wrote: “You and I can get access to all the world’s music when we want. Fantastic!”

The minister feels 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.” Solhjell wrote.

While Solhjell has a point that rightsholders should not combat technology, he has yet to find a solution that will also respect the rights of authors. The party progam merely states that: “SV will explore the possibility of legalizing non-commercial file-sharing of music performed by private persons, in combination with a licensing solution for payment to the licensees.”

Source: Torrentfreak