IP Freely? ECJ to rule on privacy rules for dynamic IP addresses

The European Court of Justice has been asked to rule on the issue of whether or not dynamic IP addresses constitute private data.

The request comes from a national German court in relation to a case where the plaintiff claims that "storage of dynamic IP addresses" assigned to him breach his data protection rights.

Under EU law, a service provider may only collect and use personal data with the user's consent or if expressly needed to provide the service requested. However the question of whether the individual can be identified from a dynamic IP address must also be answered.

"Personal data" is defined as information relating to a natural person who can be identified – whether directly or indirectly. ®