IP Address: Data Protectionists Target AdSense, Amazon Links, and IVW. I don't know, but I think slowly this is starting to overshoot the mark. Yes, data collection should be avoided when avoidable. And certainly, one should always keep in mind what can be done with the data for a central figure like Google. But if this leads to, for example, the Google API Loader for jQuery no longer being usable because their accesses also go to Google servers, or if, as here, complaints are made about Amazon Affiliate links - which only access Amazon when clicked, not generally - then things are getting a bit hairy.
Then we are only a short step away from generally prohibiting links to pages from larger providers. Or absurdities, such as the idea expressed here of the illegality of using Google Mail in Germany. Yes, IP addresses are conditionally personally identifiable. And with IPv6, this will certainly become even more apparent (since there the reuse of IP addresses is not as mandatory as with IPv4). But the IP address is at the same time the central pivot of the Internet, and if one focuses too much on it, one eventually reaches the point where the highest data protection officer prohibits access to the international Internet because one thereby reveals one's IP address to computers outside Germany...
Data protection is to a large extent also the education of users and the self-responsibility of users - the latter can of course only be achieved with an appropriate level of knowledge. I would feel much better if the data protection authorities also produced useful output in the form of citizen information. But there it's somehow bleak.
So, discuss with the large providers and, if necessary, take them to court to force them to comply with data protection guidelines: yes. Public discussion about the problems and dangers: yes. Wildly attacking random forum operators: no.
Why is the data protectionist going after something as irrelevant as mentioned in the article, and not even against one of the big players in the forum industry, such as Heise, Spiegel, Focus, or Golem? Too much respect for the reaction to be expected there?
Something smells fishy about the whole thing. Possibly we don't have all the information - but I can't think of what information might be missing that would make the whole thing an appropriate reaction.