Endorsement of comments of IPjustice

[James Gannon <james@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Cyberinvasion Ltd would like to extend our official endorsement of the comments 
provided by IPJustice located at:
https://forum.icann.org/lists/comments-whois-accuracy-14may15-en/msg00013.html

A copy of IPjustice's comments are quoted below for reference:


Dear ICANN,



Thank you for this opportunity to provide comment on the Review of the 2013

Registrar Accreditation Agreement's Whois Accuracy Program Specification.



IP Justice is a San Francisco-based nonprofit civil liberties organization that

promotes balanced intellectual property rights and Internet policy that enables

freedom and innovation.(http://www.ipjustice.org<http://www.ipjustice.org/>)



IP Justice strongly opposes ICANN's recommendation that domain name registrars

must delete and suspend domain name registrations without due process of law

and its  recommendation that registrars must verify the identity of customers

in case intellectual property lawyers might want to sue them at some point in

the future.



This proposal does not respect the privacy rights of Internet users, who have a

fundamental right to privacy under numerous international treaties, national

constitutions, and other legal instruments throughout the world.  Article 29

Working Party has repeatedly informed ICANN of its policy's divergence from

international law, citing chapter and verse of the many violations, to no

effect on ICANN.

  https://community.icann.org/display/gnsononcomstake/Privacy



ICANN's continuous thumbing of its nose to Privacy Commissions and Data

Protection Authorities was even the subject of a 2014 Internet Governance Forum

(IGF) Workshop in which multi-stakeholders participated, including a Dutch

Privacy Authority and the Council of Europe.

http://bit.ly/1FS3aHp



And yet ICANN soldiers on, claiming to represent "the global public interest"

while ignoring all regard for what that actually means, including upholding the

well-established privacy rights of the Internet users in its policies and

operations.



No one's personal information should be revealed without legal due process,

regardless of if the request comes from a legitimate law enforcement agency or

from grabby intellectual property rights holders, eager to expand their rights

further, and at the expense of other legitimate rights, such as privacy and due

process.



Furthermore ICANN's proposal overlooks the significant harm it puts Internet

users in by requiring the worldwide disclosure of their personal details to bad

actors to use for any nefarious purpose.  ICANN never conducted a "risk" to

"reward" analysis to consider whether the risk of exposing activists,

dissidents, and ordinary citizens to such an invasion of their privacy was

really worth the cost.



This costs of business should not be off-loaded to third-parties, such as

registrars, who are increasingly pressured to "police and control" the Internet

and become agents of "law enforcement", providing an easy means for anyone to

sue their customers.  Intellectual property rights holders are essentially

shifting the cost and burden of protecting their rights on to others,

ultimately Internet users via domain name registrars.



IP Justice encourages ICANN to begin to understand its role in protecting the

privacy rights of Internet users and refrain from imposing these chilling and

one-sided policies on the world's Internet users.



Thank you,

Robin Gross

IP Justice

http://www.ipjustice.org<http://www.ipjustice.org/>


Respectfully submitted,

James Gannon
Director
Cyber Invasion Ltd
Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin, Ireland
Office: +353 (1)663-8787
Cell: +353 (86)175-3581
Email:james@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:james@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=Via:%20Email%20Signature>
GPG: https://keybase.io/jayg