Why I want WHOIS privacy services to continue

[Dan Scott <dan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear ICANN:

As a software developer and librarian who has maintained a variety of his
own websites for over a decade now, I appreciate the value of WHOIS privacy
services.

After my first child was born, I realized that having my home address and
contact information readily available through WHOIS records was perhaps a
little more transparency than I desired for the kinds of content that I was
posting--mostly about open source projects, but occasionally veering into
political discussions--and I paid for a PO box at the cost of approximately
$120 per year simply to provide a layer of protection of that personal
information.

When I realized that WHOIS privacy services were available for free through
my domain registrar, it enabled me to save a not inconsiderable sum
annually. While I could afford that luxury, I'm concerned that many others
are not in such a fortunate position, and would thus either be more exposed
on the Internet, or perhaps suffer a chilling effect in terms of their
willingness to speak their thoughts freely through their own website.

Having been lightly doxxed in another venue, I am, of course, aware that
there are other means to track down identifying information a person in a
particular community, but keeping the option of WHOIS privacy services to
make that task a little bit more work for the edgecase elements of our
society is, I believe, the correct ethical stance for ICANN to take.

Thank you,
Dan Scott