IP ADDRESS ARE PERSONAL DATA-( EU REGULATOR)

ip addresses are the thing websites use to track a person when he is browsing. An ip address or an Internet Protocol, is a standard that allows computers to
communicate over a network. This address is not just limited to
computers, but many other business machines – printers, scanners, and
even some telephones – have IP addresses integrated, as well. An IP
address helps these machines communicate with each other, acting as a locater,
not necessarily a unique identifier of the machine. Many computers and
such technologies using IP addresses actually use dynamic assignment,
constantly updating and changing their IP addresses automatically or
with the help of software.

Whether or not knowing an IP address of a user to some of this equipment could be personal data, Peter Shar, Germany’s data-protection commissioner, says this kind of information should stay private. This kind of information could potential identify a user of a computer.

However, many competitors of Shar’s thoughts, especially that of the number 1 internet search engine, Google,
say that a machines IP address is absolutely irrelevant to personal
identity. An IP address tracks a computer’s location, not the person
staring at the monitor. Imagine computers at internet cafes and coffee
shops. With hundreds of people coming and going every day, you would
never be able to track one person down with the computer’s IP address.

Google says it collects
IP address data only to help improve their search rankings. Using the
IP address as a locater, they can figure out what language and where
the results of their search terms should be coming from. An example
given would be the term football. A New York searcher would find terms
about American football games, or maybe even New York football. Someone
looking up football in London would find English football, or soccer,
website results.

Shar says there is still cause for concern. Privacy policy
information is very hard to access and understand and thinks there are
ways to improve upon this. MSN is already showing signs of this by not
actually collecting IP data, but by allowing users to sign in using
their “Passport” feature, enabling them to get more defined search
results.