RE: [nc-whois] Contribution Of Globally, Publicly AccessibleWHOIS Information To Identity Theft And Other Fraud

["Burr, Becky" <Beckwith.Burr@wilmer.com>]

One note of caution - one needs to be careful about an automatic notification.  This could compromise the privacy rights of the searcher (this doesn't bother me too much) and it could undermine an investigation (which neither law enforcement nor the IP community will like).  In .name we will allow people to make an access request, we contact the searcher, they have a time limited opportunity to make a case as to why the information shouldn't be released.  

-----Original Message-----
From: Bret Fausett [mailto:baf@fausett.com]
Sent: Friday, March 07, 2003 2:27 PM
To: whois
Subject: Re: [nc-whois] Contribution Of Globally, Publicly
AccessibleWHOIS Information To Identity Theft And Other Fraud


Ruchika  Agrawal wrote:
> and if consumers choose to disclose personal information, they should know who
> is collecting the information, why the information is being collected, and how
> it is going to be used.

One theory of privacy protection is simply to increase transparency about
who has information about you so you can take steps to protect yourself. I
think it was Becky Burr who made the suggestion that a whois service that
notified the registrant when someone looked them up in the whois database
would be a valuable addition. I like that. It shouldn't be too hard to send
the registrant the IP address, and perhaps more information if you used a
registration system for users of the whois, of the person who looked them up
and the date when their record was reviewed.

       -- Bret