Sweden: IP numbers are personal...unless you're a pirate
Court ruling no defense
A ruling from a Swedish court that IP numbers should be considered personal data will not have any impact on the country's recently passed anti-piracy law.
The Swedish Supreme Administrative Court ruled today that IP numbers should be considered personal information. This is a hot topic because copyright holders routinely use IP numbers to identify people they accuse of illegal file sharing. IP numbers, although issued to a computer, can often be easily tracked back to an individual.
But a policy adviser at Sweden's ministry of Justice told the Register: "The rumours that this decision will kill off IPRED [Sweden's anti-Pirate Bay law] are wrong, because the bill creating the law includes an exemption for rights holders - they may request and keep IP numbers for this purpose."
Sweden's data protection regulator will look at the implications of IPRED in the autumn. ®