RE: [gnso-res-sga] Whois working group -- subgroup A (reponsibilities)

["Milton Mueller" <Mueller@xxxxxxx>]

>>> "Scoville, Adam" <ascoville@xxxxxxxxx> 5/9/2007 5:49 PM >>>
>Purpose of the OPoC's responsibilities: I think the basic 
>principle in defining the OPoC's responsibilities is that if 
>one can't directly reach the registrant, the party one 
>can reach should be the functional and
>legal equivalent. 

No. The basic principle behind OPoC is clearly stated in the OPoC
proposal. Its function is to reliably forward information to the
registrant. Nothing more, nothing less. For many registrants, the
contact will be their own legal entity, but for many others it will be a
service associated with registration. An OPoC should not be legally
responsible for what a domain registrant does any more than an ISP or
registrar should be legally responsible for what one of their customers
does. 

>You're right that this kind of liability isn't imposed on
administrative 
>or technical contacts. But Whois currently (in theory - accuracy 
>issues aside) enables one to contact the party that does have 
>that responsibility and liability - the registered name holder. 
>So you don't need a substitute.

Wrong again. Look up the Whois data for , oh, remax.net:

Domain Name: REMAX.NET 

Administrative Contact, Technical Contact: 
REMAX INTERNATIONAL domains@xxxxxxxxx 
5075 S. Syracuse Street 
Denver, CO 80237 
US 303.796.3208 fax: 303 796 3822 

If you call that number you get voicemail for someone called Tina Bash.
Is Tina Bash personally liable and responsible for whatever happens with
that domain?