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

[Marghanita da Cruz]

Irene Graham wrote:
> 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."

well how would they know whether mum, dad and the dog used the session.
Whether the late night session was the cat or not?

Ofcourse workplace stuff is interesting....

and there were the free access with advertising ISPs around at one stage.

> 
> 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
> 
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Marghanita da Cruz
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