East Renfrewshire Council (ERC) claim that they have found a method of identifying your address from your IP number.
The claim came to light during a recent Freedom of Information (FOI) request.
The original FOI was in connection with the alleged survey concerning the relocation of the leisure centre.
The claim was made and as such they refused to provide any material claiming 'personal data' privilege.
The case was sent by the applicant to the FOI Scottish Commissioner on appeal.
ERC defense was that they had used the formula below to trace one of those submitted replies to a specific address.
The FOISA Commissioners case officer accepted this information (without obtaining independent expert opinion) and supported ERC and denied access to the information.