E.U. Regulator Says IP Addresses Are Personal Data 164
NewsCloud writes "Germany's data-protection commissioner, Peter Scharr told a European Parliament hearing on online data protection that when someone is identified by an IP, or Internet protocol, address, 'then it has to be regarded as personal data.' Scharr acknowledged that IP addresses for a computer may not always be personal or linked to an individual. If the E.U. rules that IP addresses are personal, then it could regulate the way search engines record this data. According to the article, Google does an incomplete job of anonymizing this data while Microsoft does not record IP addresses for anonymous search."
Strange idea (Score:4, Interesting)
So... (Score:3, Interesting)
Trust Microsoft (Score:4, Interesting)
Unless Microsoft is just lying. How can they be trusted, with their track record?
Ok, more craziness (Score:3, Interesting)
Begs the question... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Is a license plate personal data? (Score:2, Interesting)
Major legal issues arising? (Score:3, Interesting)
This is totally ridiculous.
Re:So... (Score:3, Interesting)
Now with this decision in effect, ZAIKS would still sue you for copyright violation, just the same. But now you can sue your ISP for illegally distributing your personal data (it IS protected here!) and ISPs confronted with alternative between "inconveniences from the Police" and a serious threat of a valid legal action from the customer, are much more likely to make the right decision: "Sorry, this is personal data, we're not authorised to share it."