Re: [alac] GAO Report on Domain Names

[Wendy Seltzer <wendy@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Fascinating.  The GAO seems to have no concept a) that domain names 
might be used for other than web content and b) that there might be 
legitimate reasons for someone preferring to keep contact information 
out of the WHOIS.   To issue a 50-page report on inaccuracies without 
even mentioning the privacy concerns that publication of "accurate" 
data might cause suggests that the investigators never got very far 
into the questions on which they were asked to report.

I would therefore caution against trying to draw anything beyond 
numbers from this report, i.e., not to put any weight on the 
investigators' clear policy preference for the enforcement of WHOIS accuracy.

Thanks for bringing it to our attention.
--Wendy

At 08:03 PM 12/7/2005 -0800, Bret Fausett wrote:
> Dear Committee Members,
>
> The United States Government Accountability Office, an independent
> research and investigation department of the United States government,
> issued a report today on issues directly applicable to aspects of our
> work. The report is entitled "Internet Management: Prevalence of False
> Contact Information for Registered Domain Names," and I recommend it to
> you as helpful background information. The report is available at the
> following URLs:
>
> Main Report:
> http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06165.pdf
>
> Highlights:
> http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d06165high.pdf
>
> Abstract:
> http://www.gao.gov/docsearch/abstract.php?rptno=GAO-06-165
>
>         Bret

--
Wendy Seltzer -- wendy@xxxxxxxxxxx
Visiting Assistant Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School
Fellow, Berkman Center for Internet & Society
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/seltzer.html
Chilling Effects: http://www.chillingeffects.org