Comments on Proposal to limit access to WHOIS ID and contact information

["Engelken, Sheri" <SEngelken@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I strongly oppose limiting access to the ID and contact information for
domain name registrants.  Doing so weakens the ability of attorneys and
investigators to ascertain the facts concerning instances of copyright,
trademark and patent infringement, as well as false advertising and web
site that generate spam.  I used the ID and contact information from
WHOIS just a couple months ago to contact someone about their potential
infringement of my copyrights in my class materials that I author and
provide to my students.  Upon contacting the domain name registrant, the
situation easily and quickly resolved, for free.  The ability to achieve
such results would be substantially hindered if access to the ID and
contact information that is now publicly available were to be limited.

 

Sheri J Engelken

Gonzaga University School of Law

509 323 5891

sengelken@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx