RE: [gnso-thickwhoispdp-wg] Dangers and risks of thick Whois

[Bob Bruen <bruen@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

There are more issues here, for example, there is a difference between an 
individual and an organization. which brings in money (selling or donating 
or whatever).
All such organizations are already listed in various government agencies 
(such as tax collections, corporations - profit and nonprofit, licenses, 
etc). There is no need to grant special privacy rights to them and thus 
thick whois is not a real problem.
Individuals are a different story and we all know that different countries 
have different rules. If the original designation of .com had been only 
given to businesses, as was intended, this would not be an issue. Perhaps 
individuals who want more privacy should move out of .com to somewhere 
else. Or perhaps some designation for an individual using .com could be 
arranged.
Individuals can still be anonymous, but the domain owner should not be 
(IMHO).
whois was originally supposed to complete for everyone to see, access has 
been cut back over the years with the creation of the thin whois and other 
measures, so now it is an issue. It will take some doing to unwind it all 
and fix it.
                --bob



On Tue, 29 Jan 2013, Balleste, Roy wrote:

> Evan,
 
> I see your point.  Yet, the main issue is not anonymity, but rather data 
> protection and the universal process to be utilized.
> Roy Balleste, J.S.D.
>  
>
> From: owner-gnso-thickwhoispdp-wg@xxxxxxxxx 
> [mailto:owner-gnso-thickwhoispdp-wg@xxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Evan Leibovitch
> Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2013 10:27 AM
> To: Amr Elsadr
> Cc: Thick Whois
> Subject: Re: [gnso-thickwhoispdp-wg] Dangers and risks of thick Whois
>
>  
>
> On 29 January 2013 07:45, Amr Elsadr <aelsadr@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>  
>
>       Apart from agreeing with Frédéric's response, I feel that online 
> anonymity is in some circumstances an important
>       measure that needs to be taken to avoid danger scenarios. It is true that 
> almost all registrant information is
>       publicly accessible despite registering domain names with registrars in 
> countries/jurisdictions with data privacy
>       laws. Being an Egyptian, I have a very personal perspective on the issue 
> of online anonymity and feel that a policy
>       for all existing and future gTLDs registries using "thick" Whois is a 
> step backwards for practicing freedom of
>       expression.
>
>  
>
> This raises a common implicit yet unchallenged assumption -- that there is a 
> necessary link between freedom of speech and owning
> a domain name.
>
>  
>
> As someone who runs a site that hosts a number of anonymous bloggers -- none of 
> whom requires their own domain name in order to
> protect their anonymity -- I am unconvinced of that assumed link. Furthermore, 
> privacy is not synonymous with anonymity.
>
>  
>
> - Evan
--
Dr. Robert Bruen
Cold Rain Labs
http://coldrain.net/bruen
+1.802.579.6288