ICANN Punts on WHOIS Privacy Proposal

[jwkckid1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

All,

  Is anyone surprised?  I certainly am not.  I don't see why
masking certain Whois data fields in which only LEA's can
access or view in a Whois data record would not satisfy
both privacy folks and IP interests.  I can again only 
surmise that IP interests and the IPC want to play Domain
name cop.  It has been clear that Whois has become a magnet
for spamers, and harassers, not to mention fraudsters and
stalkers of various sorts.  That history is clear and ongoing.


"The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) 
has essentially put off consideration of a proposal that 
would have dissolved a requirement that domain name registrars 
collect and display personal information about people who register 
Web site names. Privacy activists said the WHOIS database has
become a data-mining dream for marketers and spammers, to say nothing 
of stalkers and harassers. Companies representing some of the world's
biggest brand names appear to have prevailed, arguing that any change to
the current system would interfere with law enforcement investigations
and trademark disputes. In the end, ICANN voted 7-17 to table the
issue in favor of further studies on the privacy impact of the WHOIS
database."

See:
    
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2007/10/net_governance_body_punts_on_w.html
http://gnso.icann.org/issues/whois-privacy/
http://wendy.seltzer.org/blog/archives/2007/10/31/icann-deja-vu-day.html


'Regards,
Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman for INEGroup LLA. - (Over 277k members/stakeholders strong!)
"Obedience of the law is the greatest freedom" -
   Abraham Lincoln

"Credit should go with the performance of duty and not with what is very
often the accident of glory" - Theodore Roosevelt

"If the probability be called P; the injury, L; and the burden, B; liability
depends upon whether B is less than L multiplied by
P: i.e., whether B is less than PL."
United States v. Carroll Towing  (159 F.2d 169 [2d Cir. 1947]
===============================================================
Updated 1/26/04
CSO/DIR. Internet Network Eng. SR. Eng. Network data security IDNS. div. of
Information Network Eng.  INEG. INC.
ABA member in good standing member ID 01257402 E-Mail jwkckid1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx