Re: [alac] DRAFT Statement on Whois Process

["Sebastian Ricciardi" <sricciardi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Bret, thanks for your draft. I included some substance, as agreed, to
discuss tomorrow.
I deleted most of my comments in order to produce a concise document, so I´m
adding only one paragraph to yours, stressing the importance of user
privacy.

Regards,

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bret Fausett" <fausett@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "ALAC" <alac@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, April 05, 2005 6:46 PM
Subject: [alac] DRAFT Statement on Whois Process


> The At Large Advisory Committee is also concerned that _/the process/_
> for addressing the numerous whois issues now under review by the GNSO is
> flawed. In November, 2003, the GNSO created three task forces to address
> various aspects of whois, and the participants in those task forces, and
> the single task force that they merged into, have yet to reach consensus
> on the major issues before them.
>

The need to restrict access to the WHOIS database used to be widely
recognized among the ICANN´s stakeholders : It became a matter of utmost
importance to protect user's privacy form those who access these databases
for marketing purposes. While the practice of sending unsolicited e-mails
(namely Spam) is out of the ICANN scope, the protection of users privacy
became a great concern for Internet users, who are unprotected, and
therefore react by forging their e-mail addresses or giving wrong contact
information, as a way to protect their privacy. We've stressed that the
overwhelming majority of those who purposely provide inaccurate data does so
for privacy protection reasons, rather than for fraudulent intentions. This
practice jeopardize the Internet development and stability, which is one of
the core ICANN functions.  There is also a need to respect, or at least take
in account, national and international legislation regarding consumer
(users) privacy. We addressed these concerns in our "Comments on the WHOIS
Task Force's Final Report on Accuracy and Bulk Access" that its posted at
http://alac.icann.org/whois/whois_final_report_accuracy-20feb03.htm


> The ALAC acknowledges that the various whois task forces have worked
> hard on some of the most difficult and divisive issues facing the GNSO
> and, importantly, has made progress in some areas. At the same time, the
> ALAC believes that reaching a consensus on other whois-related issues
> may not be possible in either the near or long term if the GNSO
> continues to follow its present course of discussions, consultations and
> debate.
>
> The ALAC encourages the GNSO, with appropriate support from the ICANN
> Staff and/or professional mediation services, to explore new methods of
> brokering compromises by all the GNSO stakeholders in order to reach a
> resolution of the ongoing whois work.
>