ICANN - Respect Our Privacy

[Nicholas Rossomando <nmrossomando@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.

Additionally, you may be aware of two disturbing trends in the online
community, known as "doxxing" and "swatting." The former is the process of
hunting down the personal information of someone - anyone - on the internet
and using it as blackmail. The latter is the practice of calling local law
enforcement on an internet user, claiming they are a serious enough threat
to justify a SWAT team immediately arresting that user.

Revealing personal information via WHOIS would make these attacks
dramatically easier. It would no longer be safe for an individual to
register a domain name without extensive - and expensive - legal
consultation.

To be absolutely, 100% clear: revealing personal information to anyone who
asks is as much a security vulnerability as demanding passwords be stored
in unencrypted plain text.

Private information should be kept private. Thank you.