IP addresses cannot identify personal information such as address or location.
Personal information cannot be identified by IP address alone. When you are connected to the Internet, the information necessary for connecting to the Internet is known to the administrator of the website, but the information that identifies the individual is not known. Therefore, even when connecting from a home Internet facility or using a smartphone, it is not possible to specify the location such as the address or current location.
Region of IP address
IP addresses are managed worldwide by an organization called ICANN (Internet Corporation Assigned Names and Numbers). ICANN allocates a certain range to the Regional Internet Registry (APNIC in Japan). In the same way, IP addresses are allocated to national Internet registries (JPNIC) and local Internet registries (ISPs, data center operators, etc.), and finally some of them are allocated to users and operators.
IP address by prefecture
Domestic IP addresses are managed as NIR (National Internet Registry) by an organization called Japan Network Information Center (JPNIC), which manages network resources in Japan. JPNIC assigns a range of IP addresses to each prefecture, and in proportion to the number of users, Tokyo has the overwhelming majority of IP addresses, followed by Osaka Prefecture.
IP address of home Internet environment
Small office
The IP addresses assigned to prefectures are assigned to municipalities and are designed to use the range specified in the region, and from there they are assigned to local Internet registries (ISPs, etc.), and further detailed to homes and small offices. allocated. Therefore, the IP address (global IP address) assigned to the router at the entrance of a home, etc., is not a fixed IP address, as it may change at any time within the specified range.
For corporate contracts
When a company uses the Internet with a corporate contract, it generally uses a fixed IP address. There are two reasons, one is that the company’s homepage and the service website provided are linked to the domain with a fixed IP address. The other is a security measure to prevent unauthorized access from the outside. When connecting to the company network from outside, a fixed IP is set when a limited number of people (employees, etc.) access with a VPN (Virtual Private Network) . to connect via the Internet.
The difference between personal information and privacy
Personal information is defined in the Act on the Protection of Personal Information as “information about a living individual that can identify a specific individual by name, date of birth, and other descriptions contained in the information.” Posting recent photos and videos on SNS such as Facebook, Twitter, LINE, and YouTube is also included in personal information. What you should be aware of is the difference with privacy. Even if you can identify an individual by name, etc., it is important to imagine what kind of impact it will have on the individual. Therefore, it can be said that not wanting to be known is more privacy than personal information, so privacy is “not being generally known and not wanting it to be known”.
Privacy policy
One of the laws that corporations must comply with when providing services is the Personal Information Protection Law. Our company’s privacy policy and the handling of personal information in recruitment activities are also described regarding personal information, but businesses that provide Internet services also provide services in accordance with their respective privacy policies. We also protect and handle personal information in accordance with the privacy policy of providers and line operators with whom we have contracted services when using the Internet, so we do not provide personal information to third parties. Unauthorized disclosure is prohibited.
There is no fact that the exact location can be determined from the IP address
GPS (Global Positioning System) installed in car navigation systems and smartphones is one of the systems that identify location information. GPS is a device that identifies the current position by receiving radio waves emitted from artificial satellites (GPS satellites). What supports GPS is Geolocation, a technology that handles user location information. There is also a technology that determines location information from an IP address by using a database that is linked with the IP address in conjunction with the Geolocation API. Acquire the location of an unspecified number of users from the location information of communication devices such as installed routers, smartphones, and car navigation systems, conduct campaigns and updates used in marketing activities, market research, and operation of Internet services, and Internet advertisements. There are cases where it is used for social games, smartphone payments, etc. In addition, Google Analytics, which is generally used for web analysis, and Google Ads, which is generally used for Internet advertising, can acquire location information from IP addresses and can grasp the number of visitors etc. for each region, and implement measures for the target region. I will use it on occasion. Therefore, personal information and location information are not linked, and it is possible to grasp the number of users and company size in a certain area (prefectures and municipalities).
