[alac-forum] WHOIS and privacy

["Walter Oney" <Walter.Oney@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I recently received an e-mail from VeriSign asking for my support for a very
ill-considered privacy measure. In summary, VeriSign is seeking to limit the
amount of information available about domain registrants through the WHOIS
service.

Allowing domain registrants to hide their identity would be very bad policy.
Under current policies, persons who wish to use the web to defraud consumers
are deterred by the fact that they can be located through WHOIS. That is,
using a web site to generate consumer inquiries requires the operator to
adhere to at least minimum business ethics because (s)he can be located on
the planet.

A recent news story illustrates another reason why anonymizing WHOIS would
be bad policy. The victim in the Kobe Bryant case had her identity disclosed
on a few web sites. The victim's attorney was able to locate the operators
of those sites and ask them to remove the identification. If VeriSign's
initiative were to reach fruition, the victim would have irrevocably have
lost the privacy that should have been guaranteed her under her state's
laws.

I hope that ICANN will continue to insist that domain registrars obtain and
verify accurate information about domain registrants.

--
Walter Oney
Attorney at Law (Massachusetts)
Nothing in this message should be construed as legal advice or as
establishing an attorney-client relationship.
www.oneylaw.com