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

[Don Blumenthal <dblumenthal@xxxxxxx>]

I’m sensing shades of old commercial vs non-commercial use of a domain debates. 
Why is registration by an institution vs an individual important in and of 
itself? What does it say about use of the domain, at least in the gTLD space, 
or reasons to protect Whois privacy or not?

From: evanleibovitch@xxxxxxxxx [mailto:evanleibovitch@xxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of 
Evan Leibovitch
Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2013 12:42 PM
To: Volker Greimann
Cc: Don Blumenthal; Amr Elsadr; Thick Whois
Subject: Re: [gnso-thickwhoispdp-wg] Dangers and risks of thick Whois

Hi Volker,

I do not believe that institutional domains -- that is, those owned by an 
incorporated body -- are deserving of privacy. Having said that... I'm 
generally supportive of the approach -- implemented within the Canadian ccTLD 
and elsewhere -- that provides significantly greater privacy to personal 
domains than to institutional ones.

Those registries that are able to make a distinction between personal and 
organizational domains ought to be allowed to offer greater privacy to the 
former. But if no distinction is offered, then there should be no special 
privacy protections.

- Evan


On 29 January 2013 12:26, Volker Greimann 
<vgreimann@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:vgreimann@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Hi Evan,



On 29 January 2013 11:19, Don Blumenthal 
<dblumenthal@xxxxxxx<mailto:dblumenthal@xxxxxxx>> wrote:


I’ve read and heard many times that individuals should be able to have domain 
names and still maintain their privacy.
I agree with this basic premise.



That's one opinion. Another, said in a previous post by Bob Bruen with which I 
agree, says:

  "Individuals can still be anonymous, but the domain owner should not be 
(IMHO)".


Does your site setup protect bloggers any better than privacy/proxy services 
would if they owned domains?

The setup gives the bloggers as much privacy as they want. They have psudonyms 
that identify them for repeated comments. They can be contacted by visitors to 
the site without the visitors knowing their email addresses. And yet, if we 
were served with a Canadian court order to divulge we would.

My point, though, is not that my setup is superior -- rather, its mere 
existence as a counter-example demonstrates that private domain name ownership 
is not a necessary to protect personal freedom of speech. ICANN conventional 
wisdom that I have witnessed often assumes that the two must be linked.

So essentially you (and Bob) are saying a blogger that operates his blog under 
his own domain name may not protect his own privacy? I believe strongly that 
the right to personal data privacy does not end with the ownership of a domain 
name. Sure, a blogger may opt for a blogging service, but most will want their 
own sites and build their own brands instead of strengthening someone elses.

Best,

Volker



--
Evan Leibovitch
Toronto Canada
Em: evan at telly dot org
Sk: evanleibovitch
Tw: el56