EU data regulator says Internet addresses are personal information

Article published at Technology Review

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- IP addresses, string of numbers that identify computers on the Internet, should generally be regarded as personal information, the head of the European Union's group of data privacy regulators said Monday.

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.''

His view differs from that of Google, which insists an IP address merely identifies the location of a computer, not who the individual user is -- something strictly true but which does not recognize that many people regularly use the same computer terminal and IP address.

Scharr acknowledged that IP addresses for a computer may not always be personal or linked to an individual. For example, some computers in Internet cafes or offices are used by several people.

But these exceptions have not stopped the emergence of a host of ''whois'' Internet sites that apply the general rule that typing in an IP address will generate a name for the person or company linked to it.

Treating IP addresses as personal information would have implications for how search engines record data.

Google led the pack by being the first last year to cut the time it stored search information to 18 months. It also reduced the time limit on the cookies that collect information on how people use the Internet from a default of 30 years to an automatic expiration in two years.

But a privacy advocate at the nonprofit Electronic Privacy Information Center, or EPIC, said it was ''absurd'' for Google to claim that stripping out the last two figures from the stored IP address made the address impossible to identify by making it one of 256 possible configurations.


Full article at Technology Review

Finding Yourself without GPS

Finding Yourself without GPS

by Kate Greene

Text Source: Technology Review

Google's new technology could enable location-finding services on cell phones that lack GPS.

As more mobile phones tap into the Internet, people increasingly turn to them for location-centric services like getting directions and finding nearby restaurants. While Global Positioning System (GPS) technology provides excellent accuracy, only a fraction of phones have this capability. What's more, GPS coverage is spotty in dense urban environments, and in-phone receivers can be slow and drain a phone's battery.

To sidestep this problem, last week Google added a new feature, called My Location, to its Web-based mapping service. My Location collects information from the nearest cell-phone tower to estimate a person's location within a distance of about 1,000 meters. This resolution is obviously not sufficient for driving directions, but it can be fine for searching for a restaurant or a store. "A common use of Google Maps is to search nearby," says Steve Lee, product manager for Google Maps, who likened the approach to searching for something within an urban zip code, but without knowing that code. "In a new city, you might not know the zip code, or even if you know it, it takes time to enter it and then to zoom in and pan around the map."

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The big ones . . .

Google Adopts New Privacy Measures

Google plans to dump search query data after some 18 to 24 months in a move designed to ease concerns over privacy, privacy advocates are saying that Google's privacy plans do not go far enough. . .

If you want to know more, read the log retention FAQ (PDF).

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Microsoft executive: Digital privacy is 'issue of our time'

Digital privacy will be one of the biggest legal issues of the century, a senior Microsoft executive predicted in a meeting with a group of University of Michigan law students last week.Brad Smith, Microsoft's senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary for legal and corporate affairs, addressed "The Role of Global Companies in the Development and Implementation of International Law" in his talk at U-M's Hutchins Hall.

Now Internet Code to Protect Privacy

Article published at Techtree

Microsoft, Google, Yahoo!, and Vodafone have signed an agreement with online activists, human rights groups, and press freedom groups to draw up an Internet code of conduct to protect free speech and privacy of Web users.

These four companies will together develop a code of conduct with a coalition of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to promote freedom of expression and privacy rights.

Besides, they will establish a set of rules that will govern how they deal with censorship and other restrictions on human rights. In a joint statement, the companies said that they aim to come up with a code of conduct by the end of this year that would counter such trends as the increased jailing of Internet journalists, monitoring of legitimate online activity, and censorship.

They would also develop a framework that would hold signatories accountable for their actions in the areas of freedom of expression and privacy rights.

According to a Google spokesman, Google has helped initiate this process as part of their commitment to protecting human rights and privacy of their users around the world. And, they look forward to working with all the parties in an effort to arrive at global principles that can help them protect Internet users in countries that seek to curtail free expression

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