In law, I am afraid I must tell you that you are wrong when you suggest that IP addresses are not personal information. The Supreme Court decided otherwise in a judgment some years ago. Since an IP address can be linked to an individual, it is personal information that must be protected as such.
With licence plates, the issue is somewhat not quite the same. After all, 800 people do not drive my vehicle, just my wife and I. Perhaps that is personal information as well.
So personal information is defined. It is pretty simple; it is any information, including a number, that can be linked to an identifiable person. We can discuss it, but I am inclined not to accept your premise.
Is transparency part of the solution in protecting privacy? Yes, it is part of the solution but it is far from the entire solution. You can be transparent, but you can still damage someone's reputation. However, transparency is part of the solution.
This certainly is a complex question, and if we are having difficulty moving forward, it is because it is complex on a number of levels, including conceptual and technological. That is why, more recently, I have focused on privacy as a human right. So let's start with basic principles.
When I say that privacy is a fundamental right, it is a concept that should be recognized, not only in the law, but also by government bodies that, day after day, implement technological and other systems to collect data and to administer public programs, including by technology. That brings us back to the importance of protecting privacy from the design stage, a concept that we should always keep in mind. If we have a choice between providing a service in a way that endangers privacy and providing the same service differently, but just as effectively, in a way that protects privacy, the concept of protecting privacy from the design stage tells us that we should choose the latter option.
All these privacy issues may seem nebulous, but, in law, what constitutes personal information is quite clear. We have to keep in mind which aspects of privacy we want to protect, so that we make sure that it is protected in government activities and in legislation.