Tech news Blog Ars Technica reported that Google is arguing in Europe that IP addresses, the number an internet service provider (in general) gives to a line of service, is not personal data.
Google's argues that because an IP address identifies a machine or a series of machines and not a specific person, it therefore can only be considered POTENTIAL personal data, not actual personsl data. (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080222-google-no-black-and-white-regulation-of-ip-addresses.html)
What?! That is like saying that a telephone number identifies only a telephone, not a person, or a house address only identifies a house. This simply is not true because when a person dials a number or send a letter, they are sending tos person. Similarly, when data is sent to an IP address, it is for the end-user not a computer.
Their logic is further flawed. To assume that an IP is just symbolic of a machine is to assume that the machine is the one automously sending and receiving information. Autonomous why? Because Google is trying to cut out the human in the process, leaving only the machine to be identified. Ludicrous.
A person signed up for the service and that person is the one that is financially liable, at least here in the states. That alone is enough reason to consider an IP personal data.
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