ICANN - Liam Horner URGES you to Respect Our Privacy

[Liam Horner <liam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear ICANN,

Before you read NameCheap's automated message which they want me to send, I
want to write something myself. The ability to protect personal WHOIS
information is VITAL in the world today. There ARE people in the world who
will use this information for MALICIOUS intent. An example comes from
working with those involved with Twitch (www.twitch.tv) THE largest game
streaming site IN THE WORLD. Many streamers/users on this site have
purchased their own domain and use it to build their community.
Unfortunately many users run WHOIS lookups against these domains and are
able to obtain addresses, phone numbers, names. PERSONAL INFORMATION. This
is SO BAD because these malicious users do NOT use these details to order
pizza to people's houses. They use it to call LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT to
these people's houses. The term is SWATTING and I urge you to familiarise
yourself with the extreme dangers it poses to users online who simply want
to build a website for their company/small business/community.

Enforcing this new ICANN regulation will not stop people from buying
domains, it will simply either increase the number of malicious calls to
law enforcement, which soon enough is going to result in someone getting
seriously injured - or killed. OR more users will use fake information to
register domains, and you, as a regulatory body do not want to deal with
that.

Thank you for reading.

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

I urge you to respect internet users' rights to privacy and due process.
- Everyone deserves the right to privacy.
- No one’s personal information should be revealed without a court order,
regardless of whether the request comes from a private individual or law
enforcement agency.

Private information should be kept private. Thank you.