Should Your IP Address Be Treated as Private Information?
A potential privacy storm is brewing in Europe over one of the most basic methods of tracking individuals on the Internet: a computer's IP address. Now of course IP addresses aren't tied to a particular person and they aren't even MAC addresses which are tied to network hardware but they work well enough as personal identifiers.
The Associated Press says:
Germany's data protection commissioner, Peter Scharr, leads the EU group preparing a report on how well the privacy policies of Internet search engines operated by Google Inc., Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp. and others comply with EU privacy law."He 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.
Google privacy counsel argues (from the Register):
"There is no black and white answer: sometimes an IP address can be considered as personal data and sometimes not, it depends on the context, and which personal information it reveals."
Yes, but if measured how often an Internet browsing session from an IP address is associated with a single individual we'd probably find the vast majority of cases have one person using one IP address. (Does anyone know of any hard data on this, if so, please post a comment below).
And Marc Rotenberg of EPIC also quoted in the Register points out:
"...but we are moving towards the IP6 model, for which it will be even more the case that IP addresses will be personably identifiable".
Here is a case where the general rule holds but there are plenty of exceptions.
The EU has demonstrated a willingness to extend broad privacy protections to its citizens, much more than we tend to find in the US. Remember the EU Privacy Directives and the Safe Harbor agreement? We may find a similar split with respect to IP as personal information. The debate isn't over in the EU but if history is any indication, this issue will be settled in favor or privacy protections. This could lead to different Internet experiences for EU citizens from those of the rest of the world. It's an open question who will be better off but I suspect it will the the Europeans.
Email This!
Digg it!
Sphere it!
Del.icio.us
Reddit!
Newsvine
