[Foundation-l] Re: Privacy concerns

[Chris Jenkinson]

W. Guy Finley wrote:
> Okay, I have a headache already but I should have known that.  Was listening
> to Adam Curry's "Daily Source Code" a few days ago and his Euro lawyer pal
> started off a conversation saying "the minute you say 'EU' you know that a
> massive headache is about to occur" or something like that.
> 
> An IP address cannot in any way, shape, or form be considered to be private
> information and I'm amazed there can be rants back and forth about this.

The term is "personal information", not "private information". It is 
personal information, as you can identify a person, in some 
circumstances, if you have this information. The same is true of email 
addresses.

> It's as simple as this -- you elect to visit Wikipedia, in turn your IP and
> your activity is stored.  This is no different than you calling me and I
> keep your phone number in my caller ID.  The key is that YOU initiated the
> contact and therefore open yourself up to sharing a bit of information as to
> what you were doing and where you were doing it from.

No, it's not that simple. Just because I give you my email address, for 
example, doesn't mean you can then go and sell it to anyone. In your 
example, yes, I did initiate the contact, but I didn't give you 
permission to do anything you like with the information I gave you.

> Make admins sign NDA's about log info?  Unbelievable.  There is NOTHING
> personally identifying there and I would be very interested for someone to
> demonstrate what malicious intent could be subscribed to someone reviewing
> one's activity in the logs.  "Oooooh, look, I got his IP, now I can get a
> bunch of credit cards in his name."  Umm....no.

Whether or not you agree that an IP address is personal information is 
unfortunately not relevant. What is relevant is whether a judge or MEP 
in the EU thinks it is personal information, and the answer is, they do.

The potential for malice, given the personal information, is not 
relevant to the situation.

> Secondly, it's sort of saying that if you come over to my house I'm not
> allowed to tell anyone what you did or how long you were here because that
> would be personal information.  Again, hogwash.

Your analogy is unfortunately flawed. On the whole, analogies do not 
work well in legal situations due to the preciseness of terminology. 
This analogy is flawed as you are allowed to reveal information about 
visitors, just not personal information. You can say anything you like 
as long as it cannot be calculated from that information exactly who you 
are referring to.

Please take a look at European Union law and the European Commission's 
website on data protection:
  --> http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/justice_home/fsj/privacy/index_en.htm

Chris