Saving IP addresses: now illegal in Germany

[NewKidOnTheBlock]

I would link to the article, I just read, but it was completely in German... (the only German seo blogger whose blog I read regularly blogged about it and considers it a very big problem for e-commerce in Germany - so I think it's not just one of those rumours)

I'll update this thread once I have more information on this (should be the case soon, as a friend works in web analytics, here).

[AussieWebmaster]

is the blogger Marcus Tandler?

[NewKidOnTheBlock]

Hehe, no it's not mediadonis - I know he's pretty good, though. I assume you know him from conferences?

I didn't mean to say I only read one German blog, b/c the others aren't good or anything (just noticed it might have come off like that), I just don't read more than 3 blogs regularly/daily all in all (that sorta serve me as hubs).

I've read a little bit more about the topic now..and am not really sure what's gonna happen with this...some people seem to think it's a major problem, others seem to think that decision might be taken back,etc.. I'll update this thread once I know more

[AussieWebmaster]

you see this one http://eu.techcrunch.com/2009/11/24/...legal-germany/

[NewKidOnTheBlock]

thanks for the link - hadnt seen that article yet. The one, I meant was about something some kind of court (sorry, not v ery knowledgeable about the law) decided only yesterday (on the 27th). That talk about Google Analytics being a problem was a somewhat common topic here (or well..at least i heard about it once or twice before), that decision (not sure if decision is the right word) that court(?) made yesterday was about more than just google analytics though it seemed - basically causing problems for all analytics providers/tools,etc.

I've already read (by now) that solutions that might abide by that law are already being offered by the second biggest player in germany for analytics tools (e-tracker)...very controverse topic, obviously..

This is the original link:

http://www.netzwelt.de/news/81282-da...-adressen.html

[AussieWebmaster]

’several federal and regional government officials in Germany are trying to put a ban on Google Analytics’, on the basis that collecting user data without explicit permission breaches the country’s strict data protection laws. Google Germany’s Per Meyerdierks, however, says there’s nothing to worry about: the company is well within its rights to process user data in the United States because it respects the Safe Harbour treaty between the EU and the USA.

[NewKidOnTheBlock]

ah yeah, I read that part, but right before that it says this:

'This isn’t the first time German privacy protection officials have voiced their concerns about the Google Analytics service, as it had earlier criticized the search giant over keeping everyone ‘in the dark’ about which information they’re collecting exactly and how much identifiable data is sent to and stored on servers located on U.S. soil. German laws prohibit such data to leave the country, they claim.'

that made me think this was yet another issue..that google is also transferring that data to the US (after webmasters using their g analytics tool on their website).

Now it seems to be questionable (to put it mildly) whether webmasters will be allowed to carry on collecting user data/IP addresses in the first place, unless the v isitors agree (then again, I'd be surprised if they won't find some kind of agreement...).

Did I misunderstand that part? I thought the safe harbour treaty part was another problem (that they just mention in the article, too)

[leadegroot]

An odd decision - collecting IP addresses is a native function of all web servers I know of.
Think raw access logs.
I certainly have no idea how to turn it off, and doubt it is possible.
Basically what this decision seems to say is that every webserver running in .de is doing so illegally. Odd.

[NewKidOnTheBlock]

I read what some IT lawyer wrote about it and he mentioned that he thought this was probably not the final decision, yet... seems to make sense.

I think the thing is that in Germany we have a law that prohibits storing data that can be tied to who a person is exactly (or something like that - generic laws on storing data, etc.)...and there seems to have been quite a bit of talk about whether IP addresses are just that, etc. ...and now (after a long time, it seems) the decision has been made that "yes, they are".

So in other words, it seems that it is officially illegal, right now, after this decision...but hopefully the people in charge are gonna try to find a solution for e-commerce after this decision has been made, once they realize (maybe they already do) that this isn't the way to go.

EDIT: Please take everything I write on this topic with a grain of salt, as I'm not exactly a law expert ;-)..I'm just typing what I've read on the German lanugage web.

[NewKidOnTheBlock]

I havent heard anything new about this so far (and am pretty busy studying right now so not much time to dig into it...), but I'll update this, once I know something new about it...(if I dont update it during the next few months and anyone cares about it, please remind me)