Removing the safe barrier of privacy from domain registrations

[Derrick Hinkle <dhinkle09@xxxxxxxxx>]

ICANNs indicated course of action would severely remove the ability to
privately and safely own domain names. Several suggested measures (lowering
the barrier to turn over private information, forcing the release of
private information at the mere claim of copyright infringement, etc) fly
directly in the face of the core values of the internet. In addition, by
forcing compliance to those who provide domain privacy, the cost to keep
domain ownership private becomes greater for no reason other than to
satisfy the ICANN.

We understand the internet to be a place of open conversation, a
conversation that sometimes upsets brutal police states such as North
Korea. The ICANN is attempting to remove one of the few safe guards still
left in that conversation in a poor attempt to cut down on scam websites
and copyright infringers. While the removing of scam and infringing
websites is in itself a good means, the incidental harm is too great.

Just as we understand the internet is a place of open conversation, we
understand that it can also be dangerous for our personal information to be
on it. While this danger does not apply to corporations or other large
entities so much, it places the stay at home blogger and the fledgling web
developer directly in harms way (or forces them to pay higher costs).

Instead of making the Internet a safer place, these actions make it a more
dangerous one. I therefore ask the ICANN to abandon the current plans to
limit domain privacy services wholesale and immediately.