RE: [nc-whois] No sensitive information in the WHOIS?

[Steve Metalitz <metalitz@iipa.com>]

I hope you would agree, Thomas, that the issue you discuss below raises no
privacy concerns.  

In what sense is the use of Whois for the purpose described below an
"unwelcome side effect"?  This is a use that would certainly be of interest
not only to competitors but also to public interest groups and potentially
many other users.      

-----Original Message-----
From: Thomas Roessler [mailto:roessler@does-not-exist.org]
Sent: Tuesday, October 01, 2002 6:43 AM
To: nc-whois@dnso.org
Subject: [nc-whois] No sensitive information in the WHOIS?


When looking at www.thomson-thomson.com, I found the following 
remark particularly, well, entertaining:

>You may also monitor your competition: Companies often purchase  
>domain names for products before those products are officially  
>launched. Knowing what domain names your competition is holding  
>gives you insight into their business strategy. 

(In the description for the Domain Registrant Search product; I'm 
not pasting the URL since it would span several lines.)

I have a strong feeling that facilitating _this_ kind of access to  
data is not within ICANN's mandate....

Of course, what this ultimately demonstrates is that services which  
may have a lot of value to the IP community may quite well have side 
effects which are not so welcome.
-- 
Thomas Roessler                        <roessler@does-not-exist.org>