Abuse in sport | Does the Minister of Justice delay:

– We believe that it is totally unacceptable for criminals who abuse children to escape because Norway does not have the same access to IP storage as most other countries in Europe. It’s about preventing cyberbullying and ensuring better protection for victims of abuse, and it should be implemented as soon as possible.

This is what Per-Willy Amundsen, parliamentary representative and former Minister of Justice for the Progress Party, tells Nettavisen.

He claims that Frp wants to give Kripos an expanded opportunity for IP storage, and that the party scheduled it in 2017.

But so far nothing has happened.

Legislation still states that websites can only store IP addresses for up to 21 days.

After three weeks, this information should be removed.

– Our biggest challenge

“The experience of the police is that these regulations alone have led to many people in Norway who may be suspected of having sexually exploited children on the Internet not being identified,” says the Kripos report on the sexual exploitation of children and Youth on the Internet March 2019.

– This is probably our biggest challenge today. When you also think that time often passes before abuse is reported, and long before the police are notified, those days go by very quickly. We see many examples of this every year, we cannot identify the perpetrators because the storage time is too short, Emil Kofoed tells Nettavisen.

He is head of the sex crimes section at Kripos, and he is clear that Kripos wants a change to facilitate the investigation of serious incidents online.

Kripos claims that in 2019 they had to reject up to 645 tips on cyberbullying due to lack of IP storage.

It should have accounted for just under a third of all tips that year.

In 2020, 271 cases are marked as untraceable because the IP address was too old.

In Nettavisen’s sports article series on abuse by shop stewards in sports, it appears that the 2019 Public Health Report states that 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 14 boys claim to have suffered sexual abuse in childhood and adolescence.

– Mæland persists

Frp-Amundsen openly says that Justice Minister Mæland and the government should do more to speed up a decision and force an amendment to the law.

– Yes, in this case the government and Monica Mæland are putting things off. This topic has been on the agenda for a long time, and Kripos has repeatedly called for extended access to IP storage, most recently in February this year. Then I asked the Minister of Justice a written question and asked him to move forward on the case, but nothing has happened. This is disappointing, you think.

The online newspaper has presented Amundsen’s statements to the Minister of Justice, but so far she has not chosen to respond.

Linda Hafstad, Senior Communications Advisor at the Ministry of Justice, writes in an email that the work is a high priority and the ministry is aiming for it to be submitted for consultation this fall.

Now Amundsen and Frp have decided to try to take matters into their own hands.

The representative of the Storting therefore believes that there is reason for optimism in putting it into practice.

– We know that there is a political majority among the parties in the Storting to implement this, and Frp aims to present proposals on this as soon as the Storting opens, he says.

– Totally unacceptable

The Storting opened from October 2.

– In 2011, the Conservatives and the Labor Party reached an agreement that required storage for six months. FRP has a national meeting decision that they believe IP storage is important, and KrF has voiced the same. And in 2017, the Storting asked the government to investigate this. Nothing has happened yet. What is the reason for this, as you see it?

– The problem of implementing extended access to IP storage is due to the fact that there is a party in government that, unfortunately, is more concerned with constructing non-real problems related to privacy than with ensuring better protection to victims of abuse. Therefore, the government has not complied. Now we must force them to do so, he says.

– Kripos informs Nettavisen that in 2019 they had to reject up to 645 tips on cyberbullying due to lack of IP storage. what do you think about it?

– It is totally unacceptable for alleged abusers to escape due to lack of legislation. IP storage is crucial to stopping child abuse. Given how intrusive this really will be and the effect it would have on solving serious abuse cases, it is difficult to understand why we do not have this in Norway, as it is in most other countries in Europe.

The online newspaper wanted to ask Monica Mæland a series of questions about the current status of the case.

Instead of responding, we received the following general comment from the communication staff of the Minister of Justice:

– The government will do its best to combat online abuse, it also means giving the police more tools. Among other things, we need to see whether Internet service providers should be required to expand the storage of IP addresses. This will put the police in a better position to deal with the current crime scene, but it is also a difficult issue where we must balance the consideration of privacy with the need for security of society.

Y:

– Even if privacy comes first, we must provide the police with the relevant tools to ensure the safety of citizens. The government will make a decision in which we weigh the consideration of privacy against the need for security of society.

KrF: – Trust in the Minister of Justice

Geir Sigbjørn Toskedal, spokesperson for justice policy at KrF, is not as strong as Amundsen and Frp.

He says in a comment to Nettavisen that the party opposes all measures that can strengthen the rights of the child in the fight against abuse.

– The Minister of Justice listens and knows well the opinions of KrF in these cases. Therefore, we are confident that the Minister of Justice will find good solutions that take into account the need for security and privacy of society, says Toskedal.

The online newspaper has also contacted the Labor Party and the Liberal Party in this case, but they did not want to comment.

If Frp presents a proposal called Doc 8 to change the law and expand IP storage, the case will be heard by the justice committee. Then, it ends up on the Storting Hall agenda after the committee has considered it.