Google and EU Authorities Argue Over IPs

The debate over the Google/DoubleClick merger has turned to the issue of IP addresses and whether they are personal information.

Google’s proposed DoubleClick merger may have received its stamp of approval in the U.S. a month ago, but debates over the deal are far from over in Europe, where the company still awaits the approval of the European Parliament. On Monday, Google battled with European parliamentarians over whether IP addresses could be considered personal information.

While Google acknowledges that IP addresses can be used to single out a machine, its representatives believe that they don’t qualify as private data since many users can share a computer, as they might, for example, in an Internet café. Germany’s data protection commissioner, Peter Scharr, disagrees, citing services like WHOIS that can turn up names based on IP addresses, if not with perfect accuracy or relevance.

Since Google collects and stores the IP addresses of visitors, the battle over whether or not they constitute personal information could affect its future practices in the EU. As of Monday, there was no consensus on the issue.