BSA's Response to ICANN's call for public comments regarding changes to Whois

["GNSO.SECRETARIAT@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <gnso.secretariat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> > From: "Neil MacBride" <NeilM@xxxxxxx>
> > Date: October 26, 2007 1:55:15 PM EDT
> > To: <whois-comments-2007@xxxxxxxxx>
> > Cc: <twomey@>, <vint@>
> > Subject: BSA's Response to ICANN's call for public comments regarding 
> > changes to Whois
> >
> > The Business Software Alliance (BSA) submits the following in response 
> > to ICANN’s call for public comments regarding changes to Whois. See  
> > http://www.icann.org/public_comment/#whois-comments-2007.
> >
> > BSA is the voice of the world's commercial software industry and its 
> > hardware partners before governments and in the international 
> > marketplace.  We also operate an active enforcement program against 
> > infringement of our member companies’ copyrights, including 
> > infringements that take place online.  Ready access to Whois data 
> > plays an important role in this enforcement program.  Such access is 
> > also critical in combating online frauds such as phishing, as 
> > explained in more detail in past submissions of the Anti-Phishing 
> > Working Group (see 
> > http://forum.icann.org/lists/whois-comments/msg00075.html).
> >
> > BSA has followed the debate within ICANN through the activities of the 
> > Intellectual Property Constituency of the GNSO, in which we 
> > participate through the Coalition for Online Accountability.  We 
> > generally support the position taken by the IPC as set out on pages 
> > 26-28 of the Staff Report on Whois developments, see 
> > http://gnso.icann.org/drafts/icann-staff-overview-of-whois11oct07.pdf, 
> > and in particular oppose the implementation of the OPOC (“operational 
> > point of contact”) proposal.  This proposal would remove from public 
> > access much data on domain name registrants that is important for 
> > maintaining transparency and accountability online., and provides no 
> > mechanism for access to this suppressed data by entities with a 
> > legitimate need for it, including copyright owners.
> >
> > Public access to gTLD domain name registrant data through Whois has 
> > been a positive factor in promoting confidence in the Internet and in 
> > e-commerce.  BSA urges ICANN to exercise great caution before 
> > deviating from this time-tested and long-standing practice.  In this 
> > regard, the proposal to conduct a comprehensive study of the uses and 
> > abuses of Whois data strikes us as the right course to follow at this 
> > point. The results of this study should lead to better policy outcomes 
> > in this complex area.
> >
> > Thank you for considering the views of BSA.
> >
> > Neil H. MacBride
> >
> > Vice President, Legal Affairs
> > Business Software Alliance
> > 1150 18th Street, N.W.
> > Washington, D.C. 20036
> > + 1(202) 530-5134 (direct)
> >
> > + 1(202) 872-5501 (fax)
> > neilm@xxxxxxx
> > www.bsa.org


--
Glen de Saint Géry
GNSO Secretariat - ICANN
gnso.secretariat[at]gnso.icann.org
http://gnso.icann.org