re: comment on whois and IP by PROFFITL@

["L. Gallegos" <jandl@xxxxxxxxx>]

The use of WHOIS to aid attorneys became a priority by those special 
interests and sacrificed privacy on a huge scale.  It was never meant for
this use. If information is needed for discovery or other facets of law,
there are methods available in areas where information is private.  Those
same methods should be required for whois information.

I'm sorry, but having a SOHO (small office, home office) allows the world
to have private inforamtion and puts people at risk.  That risk should 
have
priority over a "title search" for owners of domain names.  If you want
real estate iformation,you have to pay city clerks to obtain it.  If you
want information on business ownership, you may or may not be able to
obtain it because it is not always public information and businesses have
no obligation to provide it to you.

I am not obligated to provide easier methods of process service to those
who wish to pursue me.  I have been stalked due to whois public 
information
(in 1996-1997) and have no desire to go through that again.  The 
protection
of individuals must take precedence over the desires of commercial 
entities
to litigate and harrass them.  

Make no mistake.  I have no quarrel with legitimate inquiries regarding
trademark issues.  I have no quarrel with attorneys acquiring information
when there is an issue to be resolved.  I do have an issue with the
inforamtion being made public and the wholsale sale or provision of that
information to any third party by registries or registrars.  If a client
wishes to use an attorney to find this information, he should have to pay
for the time it takes to obtain it.  There is nothing that says it has to
be easy or cheap.

L. Gallegos