ICANN - Tatsuya Murase Says Respect Our Privacy

[Tatsuya Murase <tmurase@xxxxxxxxx>]

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):

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.
- Due process is a key element in any progressive judicial system. It is there 
to protect us from the immense power of the state to inflict arbitrary 
punishment.
- ICANN should uphold its mission to fulfill the promise of the Internet: 
Empowering dissidents and oppressed peoples around the world requires privacy. 
Stripping them of that is not a mere inconvenience for them: The very rights we 
take for granted in the West, to the point of asking, “if you have nothing to 
hide, you have nothing to fear” are not just a luxury for them, but are illegal 
under the regimes they live under.


Do not lean on the airhorn of despicable criminality to justify this. Criminals 
will be among the first to evade ICANN’s intentions on unmasking them, and then 
what? Is ICANN prepared to become the Internet Police Force? What other 
sacrifices will law abiding netizens have to make in this effort? Are you not 
justifying this along the same lines as generations of law enforcement, most 
recently when the FBI Director Comey demanded that companies not utilize 
encryption. Stripping away security, privacy and other rights from all does not 
make us safer.

ICANN needs to demonstrate it is on the right side of history. ICANN staffers 
cannot be wagging their finger at the NSA and its excesses and then turn around 
to propose this. 

Privacy is the first right. We cannot freely express thoughts under 
surveillance. Thank you.