IP address is personal

A software giant Microsoft offered to buy a search engine giant Yahoo
in the U.S last Friday. This week Google responded that it would be
bad for the internet. When it comes to Microsoft and Google, The
European Union comes first. The union has adopted a tough stance
toward both giants. I have read an article about it. An EU's data
protection commissioner told an EU parliament hearing that IP address
has to be regarded as personal data. According to the article, IP
addresses may not always be personal data, but anybody can ask
"Whois" who owns IP address. For that reason, it has to be regarded
as personal data. This idea is completely different from Google's
idea. The company says it just uses IPs to provide accurate search
results and to protect advertisers. Using IPs is essential to drive
out "Click Fraud". However, The European Union, which has almost 500
million population market, may oppose to Google's activity in the EU
area. Last year Google gave up to keep search queries for long time.
It reduces to 18 months. In addition, cookie expiration time is also
reduced from 30 years to 2 years. It might be getting out of the
critics of the union. The company might be scared of Microsoft's
dispute with the EU. European bureaucrats are good at making rules.
ISO comes from Europe. It's headquarter is located in Geneva. The EU
has grown since 1992. Giant company can't ignore 500 million market
any more. I'm really worried that my country has completely left out
about this issue. We are always a follower. We aren't good at
establishing rules. This might be one of the biggest reason why Japan is waning.