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Could IP addresses soon be considered "personal information" in Europe? The question was discussed at a hearing before the European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee, where European data protection authorities and privacy advocates backed the idea. Google, not surprisingly, wasn't as thrilled.

Privacy advocates believe the IP or Internet protocol address should be regarded as personal data, but Google maintains the idea that an user cannot be identified just by learning its IP, as this simply points to the location of the computer, which can often be at an office or Internet café, and not to the actual individual.

The hearing was arranged to discuss the potential privacy implications of Google's proposed DoubleClick acquisition, as well as wider privacy concerns surrounding Internet data. Privacy advocates and campaigners from numerous organizations were present, expressing concerns surrounding Google's potential dominance of the Internet advertising industry and the huge amounts of consumer data the company has access to.

"If a law-enforcement authority makes a concrete request to, let's say, investigate child pornography, and if it is made through valid legal process, we respond to it," Peter Fleischer, Google's global privacy counsel, told the hearing on online data protection.

"The rules vary in each particular country," Fleischer said, "so this is why we have to face it with a good team of lawyers. We also challenged a disproportionate request for millions of pieces of information in a U.S. court, and we won."

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has not come to a consensus on whether IP addresses should be defined as "personal data" subject to privacy rules. Fleischer maintains there is no black-and-white answer. Sometimes an IP address can be considered personal data and sometimes not, he said, depending on the context and what personal information it reveals.

Marc Rotenberg, who heads the Electronic Privacy Information Center, argued that IP addresses are still quite personal and are likely to become even more so soon. "We are moving towards the IP6 model, for which it will be even more the case that IP addresses will be personally identifiable," he said.

Although the European Commission does in theory have the power and jurisdiction to block the merger, in the last six years it has not turned down any US-approved deal involving all US companies.

The final verdict of the European Commission's second phase investigation is due by first week of April.