Proposed expansion of WHOIS rules

[Bill Doyle <vil@xxxxxx>]

Dear ICANN –

Regarding the proposed rules governing companies that provide WHOIS privacy 
services (as set forth in the Privacy and Policy Services Accreditation Issues 
Policy document):

The time when it was acceptable to post domain ownership information in public 
databases has long passed. The Internet suffers daily from rampant identity 
theft, massive harrasment campaigns, and other such failures of personal 
privacy. Making this situation even worse by requiring that people publish 
extremely personal details for all to see is simply not acceptable.

While the publishing of these details may not affect everyone, it will 
disproportionately affect those who rely on the Internet the most for a place 
to safely express themselves: marginalized and otherwise oppressed groups of 
people. I urge you to not make this situation worse by expanding the WHOIS 
database. In fact, it may be time to consider the opposite action of no longer 
requiring inclusion in this aging resource. While it was useful in the early 
days of the web, when things were small and abuse was nearly unheard of, things 
have changed. Anonymity is one of the most valuable resources online today, and 
the WHOIS database is a huge threat to that. Any small gains from expanding its 
dataset will not outweigh the losses in personal safety and freedom of 
expression.

Thank you for your time,
Bill Doyle