Save domain privacy!

[Cindy Smith <smith.cynthia.c@xxxxxxxxx>]

Dear ICANN,

Domain privacy *must *be protected. Marginalized populations--women of all
descriptions, LGBTQA people, people of color, fat people, disabled
people--who have any kind of online presence, especially if they are
involved in social justice work, already routinely experience determined
harassment; they are already doxxed, subject to rape and death threats,
physically stalked, and all other manner of intimidation/silencing--even
*with* private domain registration. The idea of opening up their personal
information to anyone who wants it *terrifying*; everyone should have the
option to do what they can to protect themselves from this kind of
frightening and even dangerous harassment.

On a personal level, this is disturbing to me as a massage therapist with a
website for her business. Massage therapists, particularly female
therapists, occasionally have clients who assume that the connection they
feel with that therapist indicates that their relationship is something
other than professional--or that it *should* be--and some of those clients
get angry when they are told otherwise. All my female therapist friends
have had clients who pressed them for dates, who "accidentally" brushed
against them in ways they shouldn't during sessions, who otherwise believed
they were entitled to attention outside the boundaries of professional
ethics, and got angry when they didn't receive it. Even those who do not
get visibly angry may still refuse to be deterred, and seek contact outside
of sessions. I do not want those kinds of clients to be able to obtain my
personal information, or that of my colleagues, whenever they choose.

There are already measures in place for authorities to get personal
information if they need it. We do not need to end domain privacy, and we
absolutely should not. It would leave too many people too vulnerable. This
is blatant punching-down, and I hope you will not allow it to happen.

Sincerely,

Cynthia Smith