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."
He's totally right (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Citation needed (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Begs the question... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:He's totally right (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Citation needed (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Just Addresses (Score:5, Funny)
Whew, lucky I got that out of the way.
Re:He's totally right (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Is a license plate personal data? (Score:1, Funny)
You buy Sudafed? You must be a drug dealer, as there can be no other rational explanation except to presume you are.
Yahoo Germany Helpdesk (Score:2, Funny)
Caller: "Yes, I want you to delete all your records with my IP address in it..."
Helpdesk: "OK"
Caller: "and I want you to tell me who gave you my IP address."
Helpdesk: "Umm, well your computer will have sent us your IP address when you connected to the website"
Caller: "Oh, I don't think so, I have a very good firewall."
Helpdesk: "Hello, this the German National Bank Helpdesk"
Caller: "Yes, I want you to delete all your records with my IP address in it..."
Helpdesk: "Sure, and what is that IP address?"
Caller: "10.0.0.10"
Helpdesk: "Hello this is Ebay Germany, how can I help you."
Caller: "Could you please delete all records relating to my IP address."
Helpdesk: "Sure, do you know what the number is?"
Caller: "Didn't you make a note when you recorded it!"