Proposed amendments for whois privacy settings

[James Keasley <james.keasley@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi

I firmly oppose the proposed changes to the whois database, as I believe
that they will severely compromise the ability of private individuals to
own a domain name, without leaving themselves extremely vulnerable to
having their details obtained and disseminated by individuals wishing to
compromise their privacy or personal safety.

the individuals most vulnerable to this will be activists & commentators of
all kinds, which would erode the utility of the internet as a medium for
the free & open interchange of ideas, especially in the political & social
arenas.

The new proposals bring no extra utility to the system as it stands, bar
granting the ability for any crank with an axe to grind & a form letter to
force the disclosure of a domain owning adversary's contact details,
leaving them vulnerable to anything from online intimidation to physical
harm. Combining this information with an easily automatable service
interface merely allows the industrialisation of so-called "doxxing" as a
tool to enable all kinds of harrassment.

Yours
James Keasley
systems administrator & developer