This is a terrible idea.
The idea to strip anonymity from anyone making any kind of revenue from a web site is nuts, and I'm utterly opposed to the idea. This helps a very small segment of the overall economy (both Internet and otherwise), and badly damages almost everyone else. The benefits are small and concentrated, where the loss is large and widespread. I own the malor.com domain, and have since 1999. I found, to my dismay, that putting my contact info in public was an extremely bad idea. Not only could anyone instantly know who I was, where I lived, and how to harass me at all hours, I also got an absolute torrent of both physical junk mail and electronic spam. This was an extreme hassle, and I regretted registering my domain very much. The advent of Namecheap's Whoisguard service was a godsend. If someone really wants to get ahold of me, they still can, but I'm in control of the relationship. This idea that anyone can make a complaint that I'm making money from my domain, and then instantly unmask who I am and where I live, is terribly frightening. I don't know if you've been following groups like Gamergate, but those people would go nuts with that kind of information, and they would absolutely abuse it. You'd be hurting very real people, especially women, to benefit a few large corporations that already have massive resources and muscle to get what they want. The recording industry is insisting, in other words, that you shouldn't be able to make money on the Internet anonymously.... when they've already got the ability to track who you are by the money flows and the court system. This is just a convenience thing for them. They can still get what they want, they just have to spend a little more to get it, and it's not like they can't afford lawyers. We, on the other hand, have only the relatively thin protection of services like WhoisGuard. You'd be doing immediate and lasting harm to the general population, so that Hollywood and the RIAA can do an end run around the court system. Please, please, don't do this. You'd be taking a great deal from the powerless to give a tiny boost to the powerful. |