On the proposed removal of WHOIS privacy

[Juhani Haverinen <juhani.haverinen@xxxxxxxxx>]

To who it may concern,
I have heard of the plan to force everyone to reveal their address in
the WHOIS request, in contrast to the previous possibility of making
it only available in case of a subpoena.

I personally don't use the feature in question, but it is fundamental
for political activists, whistleblowers, or even just for any member
of a non-privileged group who dares to voice their opinion online.
Especially with the GamerGate hate campaign that has been going on
since last fall, and the connected SWATing of several prominent women
in the video games industry, it should now be even more obvious than
before why this feature is needed — and should in fact be enabled by
default.

WHOIS is an old system, going back to the early days of the internet,
when it was useful for system adminstrators to be able to contact each
other through non-internet based communication systems. However,
nowadays internet-based systems have all but supplanted them, and the
need for address information which is available for anyone is nearly
zero.

I hope this (and many other E-mails you must surely have received by
now) will make you realise this proposal is flawed, and rethink your
position on the issue.

Best regard,
Juhani Haverinen