IP addresses and personal information (was Re: [LINK] Fwd: On Line Opinion - 16 February 2007)

[Irene Graham]

On Fri, 23 Feb 2007 22:48:17 +1100, Craig Sanders wrote:
[...]

> most of the time(*) IP address are NOT personal information and can not
> be used to identify any particular individual.
>
> most ISP customers have dynamic IP addresses, they change every time
> the log in. 

While obviously you believe that is what "most ISPs" do (and I do not 
disagree that probably a lot of them do), at the time EFA first became 
aware of the overall matter (Nov/Dec 2004), Hitwise's web site contained a 
"Methodology FAQ" (as at 2 Dec 2004) which stated:

"- Most IP addresses analysed by Hitwise are unique to an individual and 
are not serving more than one visitor."

That, together with other information that was on their site, is why EFA 
started asking questions. 

NB: most of the information that was on the site disappeared around the 
time that the matter was apparently drawn to the SMH or Age's attention by 
someone other than EFA - and the SMH/Age published an article about it. If 
I recall correctly, EFA became aware of it as a result of a journalist  
from the SMH/Age contacting us about it asking questions about telec. 
privacy laws).

Irene