[nc-whois] q20/Gem collection; questionnaires 751-1500
Please find attached a collection of gems derived from the answers to question 20 on questionnaires 751-1500. The submissions are ordered by the chapter for which they may be relevant; accordingly, some of them are duplicates. For an example of what an evaluation of the "gems" for your particular chapter could look like, please see my previous message. -- Thomas Roessler <roessler@does-not-exist.org> User Expectation and Experience
Submission #: 758 (individual); Relevance: AC 20a+b. e-mail addresses should not be exposed without my consent to prevent spammers from using it for marketing.20c. The Whois information must be valid.
Submission #: 783 (individual); Relevance: ABC 20a) The most important is that a registrant's physical address not be necessarily obtainable over the web (i.e., 3rd party addresses are important).
20b) Whois should not become an address farm for spam or junk mail.
Submission #: 790 (non-commercial); Relevance: AC Registrants should have an option for an "unlisted" whois entry, which would include the domain name, expiration date, name server info, and postal mail address for the contact, but not include phone number or email address.
Submission #: 805 (other Attorney for trademark holders); Relevance: AB
Submission #: 810 (other Both private and in businneses I co-founded); Relevance: AC Would be nice if e-mail field was replaced with a central contact form so spammers can't collect addresses from Whois.
Submission #: 816 (commercial); Relevance: A Question 9 is designed to give an answer allowing the compilation of a database for sale.
At no point could anyone say that they were prepared to give a phone no. but not their home address.
Submission #: 839 (isp); Relevance: AC 20a) E-Mail addresses should never be provided in bulk form.20c) Law enforcement officials I have worked with in the past consider ICANN and the Internic to be co-conspirators with the bulk of the world's Internet Scam artists.
20g) Intellectual property rights? On a domain name? In the real world, this is considered a red herring.
Submission #: 877 (commercial); Relevance: A The data returned from a whois is expected to be accurate, consise, complete and up-to-date. It is of utmost importance that a whois provide the searcher a method of contacting the person responsible for the CONTENT and ACTIVITIES of a particular domain. The claims of PRIVACY only apply to the private actions of an individual, not to the public actions. The Internet is most definitely public. When criminals, sleases, and con-artists can hide behind fraudulant names without recourse it affects all the legitimate businesses and individuals that are making the internet the global community that it is becoming. We MUST do whatever it takes to keep the registration process (including whois searches) open and accurate. This cannot be legislated by any government body ("the internet doesn't respect borders")it can only be mandated by the agreement of the Registrars.
Submission #: 887 (non-commercial); Relevance: AC I wouldn't mind if a court order or written request were required to accesspersonal (not corporate or technical) contact information from the WHOIS
database.
Submission #: 932 (individual); Relevance: ABC a) I have experienced harassment directly as a result of unethical individuals being able to look up my domain registration details and determine my postal address and telephone number. I am an unlisted number in my city but unless I register domains in a false name this safety precaution is nullified by having my phone number freely available to "just anybody".
b) That a registrant's details are not abused, eg not redistributed without their permission.
Submission #: 939 (registrar-registry); Relevance: ABC
Submission #: 964 (commercial); Relevance: AC As an internet user, I am sensitive to the issues of privacy while surfing the internet. I do not believe that the names & destinations of internet users should be publicly available, for resale or purposes of demographic studies without the consent of the individual user.
I do believe, however, that the names and contact information for domain name registrants should be publicly available. As a user of the internet, I believe I have a right to know who's domain I am entering. I believe I have a right to know who may be infringing on my intellectual property rights.
Submission #: 978 (commercial); Relevance: ABC The Whois databases are the modern equivilant of vehicle registration and driver licence databases. From a law enforcement/information security perspective, they are usually the only means to assist in identifing sources of malicious internet traffic. They should be totally managed by government.
Submission #: 997 (commercial); Relevance: A The whois database should exist primarily to ensure accountability of the domain registrant. By preventing anonymity, the whois database supplies a degree of restraint on the owner. If one cannot slip away invisibly, one is less likely to do something that requires slipping away invisibly after having done it.
Submission #: 1026 (commercial); Relevance: A Make it searchable by _any_ criteria! If you can't handle it, hire Google! Otherwise, what in heaven's name am I paying you for?
Submission #: 1055 (non-commercial); Relevance: AC
Submission #: 1062 (other law firm-Intellectual Property Dept.); Relevance: A It is very important that the Whois query "expiration" field is updated immediately if a person re-registers the domain name. The only field that seems to update is the "last updated" field and the old expiration date stay inaccurate.
Submission #: 1086 (registrar-registry); Relevance: AC Let me say this:
The registration of anyname.com represents a small ownership of ultimately public property. It is the beautiful and uniquely implemented process, that allows an individual to own this space, by paying a registration fee.
Submission #: 1112 (individual); Relevance: AC a: Privacy: Requirements that the data not be used for mass mailings have not stopped the data from being used for mass mailings.
b: When data is fraudulent (nameservers, contacts, etc.) the data provides no "consumer protection" with regards to abuses committed by registrants.
Submission #: 1138 (individual); Relevance: AC 20 a. information cannot be sold to third parties and cannot be used for marketing purposes. Registrants should not be able to hide their identities _at all_! 20 b. see 20 a.
Submission #: 1143 (commercial); Relevance: AC The access to the names of the persons who are behind web sites and their content is essential public information since this is a public venue. Law enforcement should have unlimited access as should the public to the names of the individuals who are behind the URL's. This information must be kept completely public. Privacy here would without a doubt bring about abuse. Competitors and abuses should not be allowed to hide behind some third party. The is no GOOD reason for someone to want to keep their involvement in a web site secret. Keeping the information public keeps the accountability which is absolutely necessary.
The people holding this information is a public trust and they absolutely SHOULD NOT be allowed to sell the names and addresses of these people. They do not have the right to sell the information. If someone takes the time to go through the records and pick up our mailing address, etc. from who is I guess I have to put up with the junk mail, but I do not have to put up with the flood of mail and other annoyances that result from this information being provided for a fee. It is not "their" information to sell.
Submission #: 1192 (other Law firm.); Relevance: A The most inportant IP interest is in preventing domain name ursurpation by parties without legitimate claims to the domain name or a trademark which is part of it. It is esential to be able to have a WHOIS database which can reveal multiple "grabbing" of the trademarks of others in order to demonstrate "bad faith". The UDRP should be amended to make the key standard: use "or" registration in bad faith.
Submission #: 1216 (other a, b and d); Relevance: AC a. Registrant name and physical contact address, telephone number, fax number and email address. These details should not be disclosed in any way that gives liberal and public access to real persons, families and politically sensitive orgaizations.b. Enforcement of regulations that prohibit the mining of databases to generate leads for unsolicited mail. Current practices, involving denial of service between competing Registrars fly in the face of consumer protection, for which there is no representation in the DNSO. The time it takes to deal with spam costs money and is not a trivial matter from the consumer perspective.
c. This is a non issue. Criminal investigation that requires direct contact with the Registrant, does not rely on a public database to gain access to essential contact information that would, in any event, be held by the Registrar. Tech contacts can be used as a first port of call for all legal matters, including IP interests.
d. Physical threats to the child. An individual Registrant's details should not be disclosed at ANY age.
e. Denial of Service Attack. The very nature of a DOS prohibits a system of verifiable access by network administrators to the Whois database, but essential contact details must be available through tech contacts.
f. BulkWhois. It should be banned. This would allow Registrars to protect their customer base from data mining by competitors. Economically, the Registries-Registrars already have a cash cow from annual DN renewals. Whoisbulk is pure greed.
g. TM laws provide adequate protection for IP interests. The fact that a TM holder owns a particular IP interest does not mean that entity also should have free and easy access to every person in the world who has ever registered a 2TLD, and at such a high cost to personal privacy. IP interests do not override personal protection. The former is not life-threatening, the latter may well be a matter of life and death, for individuals, families and politically sensitive organizations.
h. There has been no consideration given in this survey to the national privacy laws of other nations. In keeping with its mandate to represent all affected stakeholders, ICANN should not only respect the laws of California and the USA, but also the laws of other nations when considering policy decisions. The Whois database currently defies the EU laws and disenfranchises the peoples of the 15 nations that make up European Union. ICANN must not disregard that fact, or attempt to place itself above the laws of the people it purports to represent.
Thank you for your time.
Submission #: 1265 (individual); Relevance: AC I would like to start a website for political commentary, but can't because I fear restricted employment opportunities and threats because of WHOIS.
Submission #: 1290 (individual); Relevance: AC Detailed information should be available on a peruse basis. Bulk sale of the information should not
be permitted.
Submission #: 1291 (non-commercial); Relevance: AC We must not allow anonymity and data protection to facilitate network abuseto go untracked and unsullied.
Submission #: 1329 (commercial); Relevance: A Comment to 20g: A person or organization holding intellectual property rights in a form of domain name registered by another Internet user should be permitted to rely on the WhoIs information much like police organizations rely on the respective departments of motor vehicles when trying to locate owners of autos and other vehicles.When domain name registration processes allow a potential registrant to submit inaccurate registrant information and still secure a domain name registration, protection of intellectual property rights becomes greatly compromised.
Submission #: 1365 (individual); Relevance: AC It is an essential privacy concerne that individuals should have the option to be anonomous. It is also essential that individuals have equal opportuenty for free speech and expression, without having to sacrifice their rigt to anonomiyt.
Consumer Protection should be ensured by the listing of business contact information on the web site proper. It should not be tied to the registration of a domain name and required Whois information. Fraudulent companies, would be able to list incorrect information also on the Whois database, if they so whish.
Submission #: 1433 (individual); Relevance: ACD Q. 9. I: Publication of e-mail address, phone and fax number of the admin-c is not desirable. Publication of the postal address is not necessary (opt-out option).
General comments:
Widespread publication of personal data (such as in the Whois database) may lead to a variety of side uses, some of them beneficial, some not. If a publicly accessible database is (partly) restricted because of privacy concerns, some of the side uses may be restricted too. However, these side uses cannot justify negligent treatment of privacy issues.
Submission #: 1447 (individual); Relevance: AC For profit commerical users must reveal themselves completely (even when they use domain names for non-profit organizations - lobbiying) and make themselves easily accessible.Mid-size and large corporations should bear a larger percentage of the cost. Individual rpivacy should be protected. (Nothing more than a name and P.O. box ) this preserves law enforements ability to locate in the case of criminal activity
Submission #: 1475 (individual); Relevance: A Need a clearer line between company use of a domain and individual use of a domain. Company domains should have full information disclosure, either through WHOIS ir some other systems. Individual's domains don't need this. I also don't like question 9 - there should be something below 'valuless' - 'considered harmful'.
Submission #: 1494 (individual); Relevance: A
Uniformity and Centralization
Submission #: 783 (individual); Relevance: ABC 20a) The most important is that a registrant's physical address not be necessarily obtainable over the web (i.e., 3rd party addresses are important).
20b) Whois should not become an address farm for spam or junk mail.
Submission #: 787 (individual); Relevance: B In my opinion:* Every TLD should be required to run a WHOIS server, using a standard protocol and data format. * The names/addresses of these servers should be available from a central location, preferably in such a way that they can be retrieved by automated tools; e.g. by being stored in the DNS record for the TLD.
Submission #: 805 (other Attorney for trademark holders); Relevance: AB
Submission #: 932 (individual); Relevance: ABC a) I have experienced harassment directly as a result of unethical individuals being able to look up my domain registration details and determine my postal address and telephone number. I am an unlisted number in my city but unless I register domains in a false name this safety precaution is nullified by having my phone number freely available to "just anybody".
b) That a registrant's details are not abused, eg not redistributed without their permission.
Submission #: 939 (registrar-registry); Relevance: ABC
Submission #: 978 (commercial); Relevance: ABC The Whois databases are the modern equivilant of vehicle registration and driver licence databases. From a law enforcement/information security perspective, they are usually the only means to assist in identifing sources of malicious internet traffic. They should be totally managed by government.
Submission #: 1176 (commercial); Relevance: B If there was a central database accessed for whois requests it could record the identity of the person making the request so that if they used the information for an unauthorised reason it would be possible to identify them and block their ongoing access. Marketing and Bulk Access
Submission #: 758 (individual); Relevance: AC 20a+b. e-mail addresses should not be exposed without my consent to prevent spammers from using it for marketing.20c. The Whois information must be valid.
Submission #: 776 (isp); Relevance: C Verisign is an abusive monopoly that is well past its sell by date. Time and time again it has abused the trust we gave it (Internic as was), selling our database to spammers is the last straw.Fix the rules and make sure that unethical marketers and all others that seek to abuse the Internet are shut out for good.
Submission #: 778 (other Law firm); Relevance: C It should be and is a public database - there is therefore no privacy issue. IP issues are also issues concerning public/consumer interests. Contracts with minors in my jurisdiction are voidable - as global registries, each should take steps not to contract with minors in the first place.
Submission #: 781 (commercial); Relevance: C The part that bothers me the most, is that I put genuine information in my registration in good faith, and then must change it in order to prevent spam or junk mail.
Submission #: 783 (individual); Relevance: ABC 20a) The most important is that a registrant's physical address not be necessarily obtainable over the web (i.e., 3rd party addresses are important).
20b) Whois should not become an address farm for spam or junk mail.
Submission #: 789 (isp); Relevance: C 20b Anybody using the whois database for marketing of any type should be liable to civil fines of $10,000 US for each offense.
Submission #: 790 (non-commercial); Relevance: AC Registrants should have an option for an "unlisted" whois entry, which would include the domain name, expiration date, name server info, and postal mail address for the contact, but not include phone number or email address.
Submission #: 807 (individual); Relevance: C 20a: make it a federal offense for misuse of WHOIS information.
20b: make it a federal offense for misuse of WHOIS information.
Submission #: 810 (other Both private and in businneses I co-founded); Relevance: AC Would be nice if e-mail field was replaced with a central contact form so spammers can't collect addresses from Whois.
Submission #: 828 (commercial); Relevance: C ICANN should take into account that what is considered basic, requiredamount of privacy varies very much around the world. While in the US
sale of information for marketing purposes is dictated by commercial
viewpoints, in many places in Europe and rest of the world it is treated
as a violation.
Submission #: 839 (isp); Relevance: AC 20a) E-Mail addresses should never be provided in bulk form.20c) Law enforcement officials I have worked with in the past consider ICANN and the Internic to be co-conspirators with the bulk of the world's Internet Scam artists.
20g) Intellectual property rights? On a domain name? In the real world, this is considered a red herring.
Submission #: 850 (individual); Relevance: C I believe that the domain registration information should be readily availablepublic information, excluding the personal addresses and phone number
of private domain name owners. There should be a method of contacting
a domain owner, but perhaps thru their hosting company would be best -
providing them a level of anonymity while making their domain ownership public
knowledge.
Submission #: 854 (commercial); Relevance: C
Submission #: 855 (individual); Relevance: C Privacy is often used as an excuse to develop procedures that allow misrepresentation to consumers. Protection of consumers is more important than protection of registrants in the database.
Submission #: 865 (commercial); Relevance: C Since the publisher of content is often different from the domain name holder,I see no intellectual-property reasons for providing information about domain
name holders. While I do not personally engage in anonymous activity on the
Internet, I support the right to anonymity there and in other areas of life.
Submission #: 887 (non-commercial); Relevance: AC I wouldn't mind if a court order or written request were required to accesspersonal (not corporate or technical) contact information from the WHOIS
database.
Submission #: 925 (commercial); Relevance: C
Submission #: 932 (individual); Relevance: ABC a) I have experienced harassment directly as a result of unethical individuals being able to look up my domain registration details and determine my postal address and telephone number. I am an unlisted number in my city but unless I register domains in a false name this safety precaution is nullified by having my phone number freely available to "just anybody".
b) That a registrant's details are not abused, eg not redistributed without their permission.
Submission #: 939 (registrar-registry); Relevance: ABC
Submission #: 964 (commercial); Relevance: AC As an internet user, I am sensitive to the issues of privacy while surfing the internet. I do not believe that the names & destinations of internet users should be publicly available, for resale or purposes of demographic studies without the consent of the individual user.
I do believe, however, that the names and contact information for domain name registrants should be publicly available. As a user of the internet, I believe I have a right to know who's domain I am entering. I believe I have a right to know who may be infringing on my intellectual property rights.
Submission #: 978 (commercial); Relevance: ABC The Whois databases are the modern equivilant of vehicle registration and driver licence databases. From a law enforcement/information security perspective, they are usually the only means to assist in identifing sources of malicious internet traffic. They should be totally managed by government.
Submission #: 1004 (individual); Relevance: C
Submission #: 1043 (commercial); Relevance: C For an "open" system like this erring on the side of privacy seems reasonable - up to a point. Processes and procedures should be put in place to allow escalation in the event of illegal criminal or civil use, or technical issues relating to a domain which would allow privacy protections to be progressively voided in a minimal yet reasonable way.
Submission #: 1055 (non-commercial); Relevance: AC
Submission #: 1060 (other representative of users); Relevance: C contact information for domain name owners should be available to the public under all circumstances
Submission #: 1080 (commercial); Relevance: C Though I do not have many domains, I do run a site that services a 150.000 users community. And I simply run it from home. Luckily, among that crowd there is just a handfull of idiots. Yet these people can simply look up my home address and home phone number. There is even a service site, that provides a map with a target dish on my address! I've been threatened and harrassed many times, by assholes that claim access to my site based on "the constitutional rights", "freedom of speech" or the fact "that it is illegal that I block the free internet". Mind you, I pay a shit load of money to keep my server on line.The public part of the whois administration has seriously invaded my privacy. Though I consider myself lucky that no damage (other than psychological) has been done yet, I do consider whois information something that some dumb internet hippies once invented which apparently is worth more than my personal safety. Everybody on the web can happily threaten me anonymously, no provider will give me information, it's the same hippies there that protect users privacy, while I'm literally being setup as a target on an online map. Just one click away from being molested or worse. You can't have it both ways. Either nobody gets on line anonymously, or we all do. The way it is now, all those that contribute to the web offering content (which is much more important than stupid domain name trading) are sitting ducks. The whois database is totally irresposible and should be shut down.
Submission #: 1086 (registrar-registry); Relevance: AC Let me say this:
The registration of anyname.com represents a small ownership of ultimately public property. It is the beautiful and uniquely implemented process, that allows an individual to own this space, by paying a registration fee.
Submission #: 1103 (commercial); Relevance: C The whois data should be public information and it should not have any restrictions.
Submission #: 1109 (commercial); Relevance: C All domain registration data should be publicin the same vein that all real property titles
are registered and publically available at your
county courthouse.
Submission #: 1112 (individual); Relevance: AC a: Privacy: Requirements that the data not be used for mass mailings have not stopped the data from being used for mass mailings.
b: When data is fraudulent (nameservers, contacts, etc.) the data provides no "consumer protection" with regards to abuses committed by registrants.
Submission #: 1138 (individual); Relevance: AC 20 a. information cannot be sold to third parties and cannot be used for marketing purposes. Registrants should not be able to hide their identities _at all_! 20 b. see 20 a.
Submission #: 1143 (commercial); Relevance: AC The access to the names of the persons who are behind web sites and their content is essential public information since this is a public venue. Law enforcement should have unlimited access as should the public to the names of the individuals who are behind the URL's. This information must be kept completely public. Privacy here would without a doubt bring about abuse. Competitors and abuses should not be allowed to hide behind some third party. The is no GOOD reason for someone to want to keep their involvement in a web site secret. Keeping the information public keeps the accountability which is absolutely necessary.
The people holding this information is a public trust and they absolutely SHOULD NOT be allowed to sell the names and addresses of these people. They do not have the right to sell the information. If someone takes the time to go through the records and pick up our mailing address, etc. from who is I guess I have to put up with the junk mail, but I do not have to put up with the flood of mail and other annoyances that result from this information being provided for a fee. It is not "their" information to sell.
Submission #: 1216 (other a, b and d); Relevance: AC a. Registrant name and physical contact address, telephone number, fax number and email address. These details should not be disclosed in any way that gives liberal and public access to real persons, families and politically sensitive orgaizations.b. Enforcement of regulations that prohibit the mining of databases to generate leads for unsolicited mail. Current practices, involving denial of service between competing Registrars fly in the face of consumer protection, for which there is no representation in the DNSO. The time it takes to deal with spam costs money and is not a trivial matter from the consumer perspective.
c. This is a non issue. Criminal investigation that requires direct contact with the Registrant, does not rely on a public database to gain access to essential contact information that would, in any event, be held by the Registrar. Tech contacts can be used as a first port of call for all legal matters, including IP interests.
d. Physical threats to the child. An individual Registrant's details should not be disclosed at ANY age.
e. Denial of Service Attack. The very nature of a DOS prohibits a system of verifiable access by network administrators to the Whois database, but essential contact details must be available through tech contacts.
f. BulkWhois. It should be banned. This would allow Registrars to protect their customer base from data mining by competitors. Economically, the Registries-Registrars already have a cash cow from annual DN renewals. Whoisbulk is pure greed.
g. TM laws provide adequate protection for IP interests. The fact that a TM holder owns a particular IP interest does not mean that entity also should have free and easy access to every person in the world who has ever registered a 2TLD, and at such a high cost to personal privacy. IP interests do not override personal protection. The former is not life-threatening, the latter may well be a matter of life and death, for individuals, families and politically sensitive organizations.
h. There has been no consideration given in this survey to the national privacy laws of other nations. In keeping with its mandate to represent all affected stakeholders, ICANN should not only respect the laws of California and the USA, but also the laws of other nations when considering policy decisions. The Whois database currently defies the EU laws and disenfranchises the peoples of the 15 nations that make up European Union. ICANN must not disregard that fact, or attempt to place itself above the laws of the people it purports to represent.
Thank you for your time.
Submission #: 1249 (individual); Relevance: C I have seen many personal website run by children and young adults and their personal address are availible through whois. I also feel that the whois database in its current form causes people who would otherwise register a domain name decide not to do it because they don't want their personal information availible to anyone who has access to the internet.
Submission #: 1265 (individual); Relevance: AC I would like to start a website for political commentary, but can't because I fear restricted employment opportunities and threats because of WHOIS.
Submission #: 1290 (individual); Relevance: AC Detailed information should be available on a peruse basis. Bulk sale of the information should not
be permitted.
Submission #: 1291 (non-commercial); Relevance: AC We must not allow anonymity and data protection to facilitate network abuseto go untracked and unsullied.
Submission #: 1311 (University Student); Relevance: C I think the primary personal privacy concern is the compilation and re-distribution of registered users contact information. In a world where marketers have no morals and spam is encouraged in Internet Marketing classes, this is a one way road to disaster.
Submission #: 1365 (individual); Relevance: AC It is an essential privacy concerne that individuals should have the option to be anonomous. It is also essential that individuals have equal opportuenty for free speech and expression, without having to sacrifice their rigt to anonomiyt.
Consumer Protection should be ensured by the listing of business contact information on the web site proper. It should not be tied to the registration of a domain name and required Whois information. Fraudulent companies, would be able to list incorrect information also on the Whois database, if they so whish.
Submission #: 1433 (individual); Relevance: ACD Q. 9. I: Publication of e-mail address, phone and fax number of the admin-c is not desirable. Publication of the postal address is not necessary (opt-out option).
General comments:
Widespread publication of personal data (such as in the Whois database) may lead to a variety of side uses, some of them beneficial, some not. If a publicly accessible database is (partly) restricted because of privacy concerns, some of the side uses may be restricted too. However, these side uses cannot justify negligent treatment of privacy issues.
Submission #: 1447 (individual); Relevance: AC For profit commerical users must reveal themselves completely (even when they use domain names for non-profit organizations - lobbiying) and make themselves easily accessible.Mid-size and large corporations should bear a larger percentage of the cost. Individual rpivacy should be protected. (Nothing more than a name and P.O. box ) this preserves law enforements ability to locate in the case of criminal activity
Submission #: 1493 (commercial); Relevance: C
Third Party Svcs.
Submission #: 863 (isp); Relevance: D I would not use a third party to act as my agent for domain registration because it would undoubtedly slow down problem resolution. Plus, I don't have a trust relationship with any third party organization like that.
Submission #: 1155 (commercial); Relevance: D Having an agent register a domain name is an interesting option, but I would be concerned about my personal interest in and ownership of the name. A big problem concerning the internet is money, of course. Most internet activity happens in California, and California is rich. Elsewhere, people can't afford the computers and lines of communication necessary. So in the interests of making computers more people and world-friendly to more depressed economies, this issue of a publicly available database is unsettling. Basically, the only people that can shield themselves from the vices of the public are rich and employed people who can afford various telephone lines and extra mail box addresses. For the regular person, who manages to have only one phone and one address, the idea that having a simple artsy website, say, could attract mass murderers is scary. There should be a way of protecting registants' privacy AND a way of tracking internet criminals. I'm all for an internet police that has access to files without the whole world having access. There should, however, be a mandatory bulletin board that flashes on internet sites if many people have registered complaints against the site or if the site is associated with illegal activity...a kind of Big Brother Better Business Bureau, if you will. It'll make criminals think twice about continuing their activities and warn innocent newcomers.
Submission #: 1433 (individual); Relevance: ACD Q. 9. I: Publication of e-mail address, phone and fax number of the admin-c is not desirable. Publication of the postal address is not necessary (opt-out option).
General comments:
Widespread publication of personal data (such as in the Whois database) may lead to a variety of side uses, some of them beneficial, some not. If a publicly accessible database is (partly) restricted because of privacy concerns, some of the side uses may be restricted too. However, these side uses cannot justify negligent treatment of privacy issues.
Other Gems
Submission #: 799 (commercial); Relevance: The more restrictive we attempt to make Internet tools and applications, the more we can expect people pulling away from using it. Use of Internet technologies by the masses is still in its infancy. If you don't help infants to crawl before showing them how to walk, they will never find firm footing.
Submission #: 851 (commercial); Relevance: I feel that the general public lacks a fundamental understanding of the
domain registration process, including who is responsible for maintaining
the WhoIS database, its accuracy, and other means of accessing it.
Submission #: 867 (commercial); Relevance: WHY WE HAVE TO WAIT MORE THAN ONE WEEK FOR MODIFY A DOMAIN NAME ISP ????WHY ALL OUR ASK ARE WITHOUT ANSWER ??? YOU'RE THE MOST EXPENSIVE BUT NOT THE COMPANY WHO OFFER THE BEST SERVICE
Submission #: 874 (isp); Relevance: uh, questions 20a through 20h don't have any input elements. I'm using MSIE 5.0(2022) on a Macintosh. ??
Submission #: 889 (non-commercial); Relevance: Non-commercial entities should be provided the same protection for domain names as commercial entities. Bulk registration should not be allowed. It is only a gimmick to make money and serves no public purpose.
Submission #: 892 (commercial); Relevance: The current state of the domain initiative has inexplicably favored big business to the detriment of individual owners. ICANN for whatever reason has chosen to ignore common sense and rationality in dealing with this issue. Businesses do not have any more right to a name than an individual with the same name. Besides, Trade Mark Law in the traditional sense has specific areas where the protection is accorded. Yet many of the UDRP cases tend to ignore many of those principles. The various cases where certain business interests have gone after a registered name under the pretext of protecting their intellectual property rights without due recognition of the rights of individuals will undoubtably create problems in the future. I, for one, am interested in educating myself legally for that purpose. Many of the principals responsible for many of the injustice should be held accountable in a Court of Law. Many of these businesses hijack these names thanks to many of the stooges professing to act in the public interest. Many of them are acting based on what they will gain rather than what's right hence should not go scott free in my opinion. ICANN as an entity has proven itself not worthy or capable of the responbility of administering the affairs the Internet based on their many actions or lack thereof thus far. I am of the opinion that there should be a grass root movement to effect change and that should start with contacting the various elected representatives within the various constituencies. Those that have been thumbing their nose on the right of the general masses as it relates to the Internet and the domain names in particular should be voted out or in the least make it financially costly to retain their seats. May be they will get the message.
Submission #: 898 (individual); Relevance: I don't feel that privacy should be an issue regarding WhoIs - in fact, the privacy issue is more smoke and mirrors designed to protect the predator against it's prey. It's a lesson in contradiction. If personal privacy is ever to be maintained and respected, then greater strides need to be taken towards punishing the abusers, not in creating an even larger and more impenetrable "Thieves Bazaar". and once those strides are taken, then the most of the other considerations listed above become non-issues.
Submission #: 958 (commercial); Relevance: 20b)A whois database that offers accurate domain name registrant information will inevitably assist consumers who are the victims of all types of online fraud. Due to the fact that control of content on a web site is determined by a domain name registrant, it is crucial that consumers be able to contact a domain name registrant when they become the victim of fraud as a result of their interaction with a particular web site.
20g)Trademark owners use whois on regular basis to learn the identity of cybersquatters: individuals who register and traffic in internet domain names with the bad faith intent to benefit from another’s trademark. Additionally, intellectual property owners use whois in order to determine the domain name registrant of a web site that engages in other illegal activity such as intellectual property piracy. Cybersquatters and pirates typically seek to avoid detection. The
contact and ownership data in the whois system is the most reliable method that trademark owners have in determining the identity and location of the cybersquatter and/or pirate, thereby
preventing consumer confusion. Additionally, the data from whois is crucial to establish a case under the U.S. Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, the ICANN UDRP, as well as ccTLD dispute resolution policies and other legislation that assists intellectual property owners with
respect to cybersquatting and piracy.
Submission #: 965 (other Small web host); Relevance: This is too long.
Submission #: 967 (other websupport); Relevance: to many questions - got bored
Submission #: 985 (commercial); Relevance: Could require WHOIS users to identify themselves so that those who have obtained data can also be identified and traced in cases of abuse
Submission #: 1023 (non-commercial); Relevance: No web site owner should be able to hide from public scrutiny - EVER.
Submission #: 1209 (commercial); Relevance: I would like a clear "what happens when a domain expires" set of rules that are clear and enforced. - I lost out last year when a domain expired and the previous owner said we could pick it up when it came free - the previous owner could not be bothered to transfer it. I was checking every few hours (for several months) waiting for it to come free, to find someone else go it.
Submission #: 1274 (commercial); Relevance: I want my web traffic scripts to be able to track down anonymous visitors by ISP and country. This is only used where "hostname" resolution fails, so I don't need registrant's postal mail/phone number for this. When whois requests need to be forwarded to another authority (eg. whois.aunic.net) this forwarding should be in a machine parsable format.
Submission #: 1339 (other University); Relevance: I do not fully understand what does the point 5.e above mean. Does "to source unsolicited email" mean " to FIND THE SOURCE of unsolicited email received" or "to GATHER DATA for sending out unsolicited email" ??? I filled out the form assuming the first meaning (find the source of a received email).
Submission #: 1355 (individual); Relevance: Domain names are essentially businesses even when they are personal. I think the public therefore should be able to see who is running any internet businesses, which is won of the most important benefits of Whois.
Submission #: 1382 (isp); Relevance: accountability is the answer to all those questions
Submission #: 1446 (commercial); Relevance: Your form does not allow for situation where you do not know the answer.... such as the registrars policy on 3rd party information access. Too technical as well.. Most people I know would have a hard time answering the questions on this form. |