Note that I didn't say IPs aren't PII; I said they don't count as long as you are collecting them for the specific purpose of security and don't have any way to identify the person using that IP. Pretty much by definition that is not PII.
That came from the legal departments from our German, UK, and French entities.
You contradict yourself, either its PII or not. Common understanding in the industry is that it is. Purpose of security doesn't change if its PII or not. Although security/auditing might allow to hold on for longer because you need the PII as a feature (which you should be transparent about). For pure telemetry you don't need it, I'd claim.
That came from the legal departments from our German, UK, and French entities.