CDR: ICANNt have privacy with whois

[anonymous at openpgp.net]

Public Records Questioned on Web 

                                                   By ANICK JESDANUN, AP Internet Writer


                                                        MARINA DEL REY, Calif.--As more individuals build their own Web sites,
                                                   some privacy advocates now question requirements that the site owners disclose
                                                   their personal contact information. 
                                                        Names, e-mail addresses, postal addresses and telephone numbers for more
                                                   than 24 million domain names are stored in databases called Whois. The
                                                   information is available to anyone with an Internet connection. 
                                                        Its like a global phone directory -without the option for an unlisted number. 
                                                        "Sacrificing your privacy should not be a condition of access to the domain
                                                   space," said Alan Davidson, staff counsel with the Center for Democracy and
                                                   Technology. 
                                                        Most people may not care and would list their contact information anyway,
                                                   just like most telephone customers now list their numbers. 
                                                        But Davidson said Internet users ought to have a choice -for instance, they
                                                   may want to stay anonymous if they are human rights advocates and other
                                                   dissidents fearful of repercussion from oppressive governments. 
                                                        Ellen Rony, author of the Domain Name Handbook, said she knew of
                                                   someone stalked based on information from the databases. 
                                                        On the other hand, she said, the tool proves helpful for researchers to gauge
                                                   the origins and veracity of Web sites, and the stalking incident appears an
                                                   aberration. 
                                                        "I can see both sides," she said. "Historically, Whois is always public." 
                                                        The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which oversees
                                                   the master record keeper of Web addresses and the domain registration
                                                   companies, currently requires disclosure of contact information for holders of
                                                   .com, .net and .org names. 
                                                        Andrew McLaughlin, ICANNs chief policy officer, said the organization may
                                                   have to revisit Whois policies next year, but it is not on the agenda for its annual
                                                   meeting this week. 
                                                        Part of the drive comes from the European Union, which passed a law
                                                   prohibiting the transfer of data to the United States and other non-EU countries
                                                   that dont meet EU standards for protecting personal information. 
                                                        Back in the 1980s, when the Whois database was developed, Internet privacy
                                                   wasnt a big deal. The Internet was mostly a research tool for government and
                                                   universities. 
                                                        "We all knew each other," said Karl Auerbach, a longtime Internet user who
                                                   was recently elected to ICANN. 
                                                        But these days, Auerbach said, that same Whois database creates unwanted
                                                   e-mail and unsolicited phone calls. 
                                                        Davidson said times have changed, and the Internet must change as well. 
                                                        "Now, you have regular people using it and theres a much greater need to
                                                   protect privacy," he said. 
                                                        Registration companies offer access to the databases in order to let users
                                                   determine whether the domain names they want are available. But when a name is
                                                   taken, the registrar often links to the records for that name as well. 
                                                        The idea is to help users contact the names owner for possible purchase, even
                                                   though the databases originally helped computer administrators contact one
                                                   another when networks go awry. 
                                                        Lawyers also use the databases to check on names that may tread on their
                                                   clients trademark rights. Steven J. Metalitz, vice president for the International
                                                   Intellectual Property Alliance, said such open access is important to deter abusers. 
                                                        At VeriSign Global Registry Services, which runs the databases for .com, .net
                                                   and .org, Vice President Chuck Gomes said technology may settle the issue in the
                                                   next year or two. 
                                                        New tools, he said, could help meet the needs of law enforcement officials and
                                                   trademark owners while protecting privacy for individuals in other circumstances. 
                                                        In the meantime, the records remain open, and many of the proposals for new
                                                   domain suffixes call for open Whois databases as well. 
                                                      "Its the model thats out there," said John Kane, head of a marketing task
                                                   force for Afilias, which is seeking a .web suffix. "Its a public resource. You dont
                                                   own a domain name. You own the right to use it." 

  http://www.latimes.com/wires/20001115/tCB00V0232.html