Delete comment from: Google Public Policy Blog
I think most people have overlooked the arguments in the an analysis of IP addresses and URL I have made avaliable from the home page of www.amberhawk.com.
In summary, the data protection analysis (attached) that shows that URLs and IP addresses can become personal data, unambiguously.
It means that any individual user of the Internet can, at any time, seek the protection of a data protection regime by providing the necessary identifying details to any organisation that stores their IP address or URL.
Organisations that use such data will have to adjust their procedures to take account of the reality that any subsequent processing of URLs or IP addresses, can be, at any time the processing of personal data.
The process, in my view, puts the internet user in charge of his own privacy.
A full legal analysis is presented in the context of the UK’s Data Protection Act and includes advice for service providers, for data subjects, and discusses possible counter arguments. This analysis is valid for countries where the national data protection legislation is based on the Data Protection Directive 95/45/EC or on the OECD Guidelines; Google’s privacy policy suggests that the analysis applies to it.
Chris Pounder
Jul 24, 2009, 1:52:44 PM
Posted to The Google Books settlement and privacy
