IP Addresses are NOT Personal Information
The debate over whether or not Internet Protocol
(IP version 4) addresses are personal information continues. As
reported on New York Times Blog:
Europe: Your I.P. Address Is Personal. It has been since commented
on at Educated Guesswork
(Uh, yeah IP addresses are identifying) and Adam Shostack
added it to his Adam's Law of Perversity in Computer Security
.
Let's review a few quick facts about IP addresses:
- IP addresses are not private
- IP addresses are not anonymous
- IP addresses do not uniquely identify a person
- IP addresses do not uniquely identify a computer
Granted an IP address may become identifying when it is stored in conjunction with other personal information, but by itself an IP address is not personally identifying information.
And to suddenly start talking about confidentiality and protecting your IP address (as if you own it) is simply ludicrous. By their very nature IP addresses cannot be private, because they are used to route data. Playing the privacy card for IP addresses is intellectually dishonest, and it detracts from real privacy arguments. It is disheartening to see so many people hopping on the "IP address is personal" bandwagon.
To quote LMH: It's called fanboyism, and it makes you kinda
stupid.