NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] A quick comment on EU's "IP addresses are personal info"
Greetings. Just a short note regarding: http://kstp.com/article/stories/S321059.shtml?cat=159 The issue of logged IP address retention by search services and other entities (uh, like anyone running a Web site, in most cases!) is a complicated one that I won't address here and now. However, the story referenced above seems to suggest the possibility at least that the EU might wish to somehow prohibit WHOIS lookups of IP addresses used to determine the responsible organizations. Such a prohibition would have extremely negative ramifications for spam and virus fighting, necessary Internet operations and troubleshooting, and a range of related areas. As much as I'm of course pro-privacy regarding many Internet issues, absolute (e.g. lookup) IP address privacy does not appear to be compatible with a reliable or practical Internet environment. --Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein lauren@vortex.com or lauren@pfir.org Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 http://www.pfir.org/lauren Co-Founder, PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org Co-Founder, NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com