Re: [alac] GAO Report on Domain Names

["John R Levine" <johnl@xxxxxxxx>]

> In the 'Abstract' it is stated that <Data accuracy in the Whois service
> can help law enforcement officials to investigate intellectual property
> misuse and online fraud, or identify the source of spam e-mail, and can
> help Internet operators to resolve technical network issues>. Any idea how
> much the correct portion of WHOIS has actually been helpful in these
> directions?

For spam and technical problems it's extremely useful.  I use it all the
time.

I'd love to see an analyis of how many domains with fake WHOIS are used
for legitimate vs. fraudulent purposes.  From what I've seen, it's almost
all fraudulent, but that's just anecdotal.

Regards,
John Levine, johnl@xxxxxxxx, Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies",
Information Superhighwayman wanna-be, http://www.johnlevine.com, Mayor
"I dropped the toothpaste", said Tom, crestfallenly.