Commentary on Possible WHOIS Privacy Change

[Art McBain <mcbain.asm@xxxxxxxxx>]

Dear ICANN,

I do not believe removing the ability to protect WHOIS information is
in the best interest of domain holders. I know from personal
experience the information provided in a WHOIS record can be used to
harass you by mail, have attempted C.O.D. pizza deliveries, and other
things. I am not joking about the prank pizza deliveries.

I believe if someone wishes they should be able to protect their
information from those who are not a good participant in society.
These would-be harassers may not even exist within the same country as
the target, making it hard to prevent them from continuing.

The ability to privatize should also cover businesses, as it can be
hard to tell the difference between a business and a person in many
cases. There are people who sell things as part of a hobby without a
legal entity or are listed as a sole proprietorship where their
business address is also, through ease or necessity, their home
address.

If a business chooses to hide their contact information on their
website and in their WHOIS entry then people should already know not
to do business with them. Preventing them from hiding their WHOIS
information will not stop them from being a shady business or prevent
them from using shell companies to keep their primary information
hidden. However it will make it impossible, as above, for legitimate
people or entities to be able to keep their information out of the
hands of those who wish to cause trouble or harm.

As before, those who absolutely need to pierce a privacy protected
WHOIS can pursue appropriate existing legal means with a registrar or
the privacy protector. As this is out of the hands except for those
who are able and can prove need, a privacy protected WHOIS entry
provides the minimum barrier against harassment and other misuse.

Finally, to address the last point asked about, I do not believe it
should be necessary to differentiate the WHOIS information of
businesses versus those which are not. Who would verify this flag is
correct and how would it be verified? Is that for the registrar to do?
What would prevent someone from saying "I am not a business" but
having an unlisted page they give out somewhere else that enables
people to buy things? What about websites that are predominantly a
blog or for an organization, such as a local co-op, that happens to
take donations? Would they now be required to have the "commercial"
flag?

The current system may not be perfect, but it seems to have worked
well until now and though there may be a few bad entities or
individuals,  this proposal to change it seems to have negative
consequences that outweigh the good it may bring.

Sincerely,
Arthur McBain