Whois information should remain accessible to all

["EMERSON Neil" <NeilEmerson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I am a lawyer based London, England.
 
I have been informed that there are proposals to change the nature of
the Whois service and that this is to come before ICANN for voting in
the near future.  
 
I find the Whois service is an essential tool and I believe that any
change that would make Whois information less comprehensive or more
restrictive should be resisted at all costs.  I understand the motions
before the meeting numbered 1 and 3 would severely reduce information
about registrants.
 
Motion 2, calling for a study on the uses of the system prior to making
any changes, seems to me to be a proportionate and reasonable proposal
and I would urge support of this motion to ensure that all users of the
Internet continue to have access to the information on the Whois system.
 
I often need to carry out Whois searches on behalf of my clients in
order to discover information about registrants of domain names, for a
various reasons.  Often, domain names are registered in trading or
"doing business as" names and no legal entity is recorded in the
registration information and details are often withheld on spurious
grounds.  
 
As it is the internet offers dishonest businesses myriad opportunities
to shelter behind aliases etc and any protections are shockingly
rudimentary.  One of the few aids to tracking down the fraudulent is the
Whois system, and it seems to me that far from considering ways to
reduce it, thought should be given to making it more informative. 
 
In this regard I urge you to support Motion 2.
 
--------------------------------------------------
Neil Emerson 
Partner
For and on behalf of Bircham Dyson Bell LLP
50 Broadway London SW1H 0BL 
t   +44 (0)20 7227 7011
www.bdb-law.co.uk <http://www.bdb-law.co.uk/> 
Bircham Dyson Bell
--------------------------------------------------
 

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