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The statement comes courtesy of the German data protection commissioner, Peter Scharr, who is leading an EU group investigating the legality of search companies' privacy policies.

Scharr told a meeting of the Civil Liberties Committee that when an IP address identifies a specific person it becomes personal information.

Google, however,

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argues that IP addresses merely identify a computer rather than a person.

The company claims that it collects IP addresses in order to improve its search relevancy, by tailoring results according to the location of the IP address and the language used.

It maintains that it does not collect enough information to identify the person behind the address.

"Google believes that whether or not an IP address can be considered personal data depends on the context," responds Google.

"For example, if you're an ISP and you attribute an IP address to your subscribers and know their name and address, the IP address should be considered personal data. On the other hand, the IP addresses recorded by every website on the planet should not be considered personal data."

"Google believes that data protection laws should apply to any data that could identify you, and in most cases, an IP address cannot."