WHOIS Privacy

[Terry Kennedy <TERRY@xxxxxxx>]

  As the owner of a number of non-commercial domains, some for over 20
years, I am very concerned about any actions that reduce privacy pro-
tections for registrants.

First:

  It is a matter of personal safety. You might not give this any
  thought, but as someone who was repeatedly stalked by a mentally ill
  person, it is a major concern of mine. That is why my registrant info
  is private.

Second:

  I find it hard to see what "problems" this policy is attempting to 
  "solve". If someone needs to contact me about any of the domains I
  have registered, email is forwarded nearly instantaneously and I will
  respond as appropriate - exactly the same as if they had emailed me
  at my actual address, but with more privacy.

  If a domain registrant doesn't want to answer their email, then how
  that email got to them is of no importance.

Third:

  There are exising policies in place for dealing with issues where the
  registrant is non-responsive and there is an actual issue - the reg-
  istrant's hosting provider can be asked to take down pages or the en-
  tire site, and in extreme cases the domain itself can be either placed
  in a non-resolving administrative status or legally seized.

Fourth:

  By preventing registrars from offering privacy services or reducing
  the functionality of existing services, this policy is going to move
  the "real" information to a place out of reach of the registrar and
  ICANN. For example, if it appears that this policy is going to be
  implemented, I will simply update my registrations to point to a Post
  Office box (or similar) in a nearby city and use a nondescript email
  address at a site that offers email, such as Google, Yahoo, etc.

In conclusion:

  This policy will not be effective in achieving its goals, and is harm-
ful to registrants who have an actual need for privacy as well as those
who simply prefer privacy (just as many people have unlisted telephone
numbers).

        Sincerely,

        Terry Kennedy             http://www.tmk.com
                                  New York, NY USA
        3f7e56f300c74c2fa63a9359ebadd3fc.protect@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx