BUNDESVERBAND DER VERBRAUCHERZENTRALEN UND VERBRAUCHERVERBANDE —BERBRAUCHERZENTRALE BUNDESVERBAND V. PLANET49 GmbH (“PLANET49”)

The restrictions of Article 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive apply to any information stored in a terminal equipment, regardless of whether or not it is persona. (¶70)

That interpretation is borne out by recital 24 of Directive 2002/58, according to which any information stored in the terminal equipment of users of electronic communications networks are part of the private sphere of the users requiring protection under the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. That protection applies to any information stored in such terminal equipment, regardless of whether or not it is personal data, and is intended, in particular, as is clear from that recital, to protect users from the risk that hidden identifiers and other similar devices enter those users’ terminal equipment without their knowledge.