User Expectation and Experience
| Submission #: 1026 | (commercial) |
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) |
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| Submission #: 1062 | (other law firm-Intellectual Property Dept.) |
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) |
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.
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| Submission #: 10 | (commercial) |
Privacy is the utmost concern to me. The whois database should not be used for any type of policing activities by anyone, whether it be law enforcement, intellectual property interests, etc. It should not be used to protect minors, or anyone else, either. The whois database is not of technical concern, and therefore should not be mandated by ICANN in any manner whatsoever. The DNS works just fine without it. The market should decide how or even IF whois data should be provided. | |
| Submission #: 110 | (commercial) |
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| Submission #: 1112 | (individual) |
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.
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| Submission #: 112 | (commercial) |
Our interest is largely one ofprotecting our intellectual property and other rights, but as a consumer, I don't think anyone should post a public site who isn't willing to identify himself/herself/itself, particularly in the commercial arena. One can always use a p.o. box if it's a non-commercial site. | |
| Submission #: 1138 | (individual) |
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) |
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.
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| Submission #: 116 | (commercial) |
a. Privacy is a false issue. For economic reasons, and in the interest of technological development, the law should afford remedies for the abuse of information, not attempt to impede the availability and flow of information.
b. Identification of the source of products and services.
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| Submission #: 1192 | (other Law firm.) |
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 #: 120 | (other non-profit org & personal) |
20a - email address20b - phone number, mailing address
20c - none or name infringement/protection for the little guy or whoever acquires the domain foirst...
20d - parental education and nothing in the Whois db
20e - DNS, IP, service provider
20f - none
20g - date of registration
20h - desire of registrants not to have their data SOLD without consent or opt-out ability
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| Submission #: 1216 | (other a, b and d) |
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.
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| Submission #: 1265 | (individual) |
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) |
Detailed information should be available on a peruse basis. Bulk sale of the information should not
be permitted.
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| Submission #: 1291 | (non-commercial) |
We must not allow anonymity and data protection to facilitate network abuseto go untracked and unsullied.
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| Submission #: 131 | (other a, b, and d all apply) |
20a The physical addresses and telephone/fax numbers.20b Verifying that the entity operating a web site is the entity described on the web site.
20c Identifying node operators providing specific content, verifying jurisdiction.
20d no interest specific to minors exists
20e Contacting the tech support staff of a node operator
20f Determining availability of domain name(s)
20g no interest specific to intellectual property exists
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| Submission #: 1329 | (commercial) |
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) |
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.
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| Submission #: 139 | (commercial) |
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| Submission #: 142 | (commercial) |
The primary purpose of WHOIS data should be to support the operation of the Internet. However, this should be balanced against the desire to support a diversity of operational and business models. | |
| Submission #: 1433 | (individual) |
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.
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| Submission #: 1447 | (individual) |
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) |
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) |
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| Submission #: 1519 | (other Attorney) |
My primary interest in the WhoIs database is in finding and putting a stop to cybersquatters. It would be nice to have boolean search capabiities across all tlds so that I could find infringing domains. It is imperitive that I be able to find contact information on infringing websites. | |
| Submission #: 1528 | (individual) |
The whois database is most important as a tool for locating available or similar domains, and for seeing who has registered a domain.It should not be used as a mass marketing tool. As an individual, I would want others to see my name associated with domains that I have registered. However, if I thought that using my name and address in the whois database would subject me to marketing campaigns, then I would want to use the 3rd party registration option mentioned above. Especially now with the new .name gtld coming online there will be many more individuals registering domains, and having the name and postal address in the whois database is useful/informative, and if an attempt is made to use that information for unsolicited marketing or too much personal information (email and phone are too much) then people are likely to supply less, or turn to other options like that 3rd party registration which would reduce the usefulness of the whois database. | |
| Submission #: 1530 | (commercial) |
From our perspective, the whois database is a crucial source of geographicinformation that we use to provide an online fraud detection database. The
prevention of online fraud is essential to globally creating a level playing for
e-commerce and building up consumer confidence in buying and selling
through the internet.
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| Submission #: 1536 | (individual) |
The whois database is extremely useful in identifying the owners of web addresses. It also helps law-enforcement and helps corporations protect their intellectual property. However, several individuals like myself have registered web addresses and for obivious reasons would not wish to divulge our home addresses. ICANN should strike a balance between the needs of law-enforcement, corporations protecting their intellectual property rights, the need to prevent gouging of potential/future web addresses by parties solely interested in making a quick profit and the genuine concerns of legitimate individuals in protecting their privacy. | |
| Submission #: 1542 | (individual) |
I'm not technically qualified to completely answer all the survey questions. However, my interest and concern is two-fold.
One, there does need to be a way to trace a domain at least back to the hosting ISP to report violations. Two, I want to find a way to protect my email address to reduce the amount of spam mail I get. When I registered my personal domain, I used an email address that is ONLY used in that one place. So therefore, I know when I get spam to that email address that it came from either Network Solutions marketing my info or spammers accessing the database. Fully 80-90% of the spam mail I receive is to this one address and therefore is from people accessing the registrant's email address.
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| Submission #: 1562 | (commercial) |
The personal information of registrants, must be protected. Whois information is not necessary for enforcement of intellectual property rights, and should not be maintained or formatted to facilitate such use. The technical functioning of domain names (resolution) and inquiry of availability of specific domain names should be only uses of the whois database. This should not be used as a marketing resource. This should not be used as a means to facilitate corporations enforcement of their intellectual property rights. | |
| Submission #: 1586 | (other both business and individual) |
whi is with the ip addresses is a sleeping demon.. fix it now before ipv6 makes it even worse | |
| Submission #: 15 | (individual) |
The owner of *any* email address in thedatabase should have absolute control of its use. I have heard of several cases where the email address of someone was used without their permission and they had no way to stop the misuse of their address as they didn't have the authority to change the records for the domain. I currently have a plea for help in my mailbox from a woman who was hired to develop someone's website. They used her address in the whois registration and subsequently spammed when she no longer worked for them -- but she gets the complaints. | |
| Submission #: 1606 | (other web host) |
Public "Whois" information, with the exception of the listed DNS servers, is non-authoritative- at best. Virtually no verification is done, so the accuracy is voluntary. So far this has worked well enough, but it probably won't in the future.
The service should not be viewed as a tool for consumer protection. There are other, at least slightly better, mechanisms currently available for that.
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| Submission #: 1612 | (commercial) |
The public Internet is just that, and the whois information must also be public. I would certainly like to cut down on my unsolicited emails but not at the expense of being able to solve problems and catch illegal activity. | |
| Submission #: 1639 | (individual) |
The public in general must be able to identify the individual or orgnaization behind any online persona in order to protect themselves against fraud and/or deceptive marketing. The registration of a domain is not essential to engaging in anonymous protected speech online. Nor is one required to register a domain as an individual.However, since this information can be used to generate unsolicited mailings, the information should be released in such a way as to serve the legitimate needs of the public (like "who is behind this domain name") without making it easy to harvest names at random (like "gimme all the domains that start with 'a', etc."). | |
| Submission #: 163 | (individual) |
20a: Individual/non-organizational users should not have to publish their name/contact information to the whole world. Use of an agent (ISP/DNS provider/registrar) should be sufficient.
20b: Consumers should be able to discern if a merchant is who they say they are.
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| Submission #: 1657 | (other Outsourced IT firm) |
Although I see the shadow of "Big Brother" looming over the idea of centralized control I still prefer the way domain registration was handled under the old DARPA contract. By distributing registration and control of information to multiple parties across the network, the vagaries of individual search/change preferences tend to confuse the issue and permit inaccuracies to replicate, often causing loopbacks, misdirected pointers, etc. I would also like to see some sort of mandantory rule-set for Name Server administration and Zone transfer to insure accurate updating of DNS servers. | |
| Submission #: 1671 | (individual) |
While I appreciate that the decentralization of the Internet has been both an excellent move logistically and also an attempt to further increase redundancy as given in the original 'brief' for the DARPA Internet, I still feel that the Whois network has become somewhat of a mess, which is very difficult for people to interpret and follow, let alone consumer and even technical software! I think a further standardization of the Whois protocol to allow better referral of queries between servers (especially for automated mechanisms) would probably assist in the use of the Whois data. | |
| Submission #: 1684 | (individual) |
There really is no privacy anymore, especially in regards to the internet. So the best control of the information is through OPT_OUT/IN programs and infomation for a fee only. This would tend to limit the uncontrolled exchange of personal information.
Intellectual property rights needs a great deal of extended study as each side has very valid arguements.
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| Submission #: 1687 | (individual) |
There needs to be a disconnect between private data and public data. Someone's home address shouldn't be published, but there should be a way to contact them. There are lots of reasons why someone would want the registrar's info - some good, many bad. Perhaps on an individual basis - i.e. a specific search, personal info should be provided, while in bulk searches it wouldn't be. Perhaps personal info would only be provided after a second form is filled out after the results of an initial search. It's a difficult question. | |
| Submission #: 1696 | (commercial) |
I feel that the current level of information required and held by the WHOIS database is good. However, I wonder if perhaps some sort of qualification system could be used with regards to divulging that information. For instance, some sort of identification (registration?) required to get detailed contact info - Sysadmins, law enforcement etc. | |
| Submission #: 1709 | (individual) |
Whois should only identify the registered person/organization and a way to contact via a form that hides the registered parties email. Phone number and address should only be provided when legally necessary. | |
| Submission #: 1710 | (commercial) |
All whois informaiton should be available for the public to browse on a domain by domain basis, but there should pains should be taken to prevent the bulk gathering of data by any parties. Law enforcement officials should likewise have to search for pertinent data manually. | |
| Submission #: 1711 | (commercial) |
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| Submission #: 1723 | (commercial) |
Personal privacy is paramount.Obtaining full data details but limiting exposure of that data best protects consumers. Having law enforcement agency access to full data may be permiited under proven need (rahtre than for general info purposes). There should be no selling of data. IP condistions dictate accuracy. | |
| Submission #: 1729 | (commercial) |
That the physical addresses of registrants and administrative/technical contactscan be hidden if they so choose, as long as valid and current contact information
is available.
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| Submission #: 1742 | (individual) |
I am concerned about personal safety, and I am just a 'nobody'. I have a friend who is in the public eye who should have known better than to register a domain name and have her home address out there for anyone and everyone. There must be a way to address this issue, and still make available information that should be public. | |
| Submission #: 1755 | (commercial) |
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| Submission #: 1762 | (individual) |
There should be a distinction between domain names registered for a business, and registered for an individual. An individual's privacy should be paramount. Businesses should have their contact information presented in full.This may not be feasible because of the antiquated way in which the WHOIS database was developed. New TLDs should be developed specifically for the individual who values their privacy. For example, the forthcoming .NAME TLD should do as much possible to protect the registant's personal data. .USER should be created for the same reason (without the double-name requirement of .NAME) | |
| Submission #: 1764 | (individual) |
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| Submission #: 1779 | (individual) |
I wish that the whole address were not available until a specific email request was made. Rather than making it really hard to get the address, by using an ISP or domain registar as a front, and practically subpoena-ing the info, it would be nice if it were available, but not to easy for spammers to collect the info. | |
| Submission #: 1791 | (commercial) |
Sounds to me like Internic is trying to say that if they were the only company to handle registering domain names, that they could do a better job of maintaining, reporting, and verifying of data. That would make you a monopoly again and make you happy. I don't like that idea, but I do think whoever else is ICANN certified or whatever should have to work closely with Internic and you should all work closely and well together. The database has to be up to date and accurate, that is what a database is for. Charge the cost to the people registering the domain name. Keep track of them, don't let 3rd parties register domain names for someone else. I want someone stealing information, sending unsolicited bulk e-mail, and child pornographers to be found and stopped. If Internic and other ICANN companies could work together You could accomplish these goals. | |
| Submission #: 1805 | (commercial) |
20s. remove email and mailing address to prevent spammers. 20c. law enforcement (with suppenas) should have access to the database. 20g, that a quick and decisive action be taken when registered trademarks are being damaged. | |
| Submission #: 1807 | (non-commercial) |
I think that the data in the Whois database should not be sold to any outside company. I also think that there should be a scheme to make it so that only a certian group of people could access the data. Maybe it could be password protected and only accessable to those people who are actually listed as administrative or techinical contacts? | |
| Submission #: 1849 | (individual) |
As a individual the prtection of personal privacy is important.
I have no obection to giving my full details on registering names but :-
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| Submission #: 1851 | (commercial) |
dont have any public information. for spamming you can always trace anyway and you have the owners name.law enforcement could get access to the database by court order as they normally would have to for entrace to houses or premises.
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| Submission #: 1868 | (commercial) |
The balance of privacy and public interest is a delicate one. While in most instances privacy must take priority, the act of registering and using a domain name puts you in the position of a publisher and, in some cases, a retailer. To allow individuals to recognise who they are doing business with it is important that the information be made available.I also believe that this information be made publically available, not just to regulatory organisations. When I want to do business with someone it is important that I can carry out due dilligence, not rely on some government official. I believe the current situation provides a good balance between the various parties, if Registrars are to be given the power to market to registrants it should be with their express (opt-in) permission.
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| Submission #: 1869 | (individual) |
you could do what ripn (www.ripn.net -- .ru/.su registry) do -- have fields that can be seen in the whois, and private fields that can only be seen either by the registry and also only seen by the registrant or its contacts when it wants to. | |
| Submission #: 1882 | (commercial) |
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| Submission #: 1886 | (commercial) |
I think the whois service as it currently stands is ideal. I would be very cautious of any major changes as this could create oportunities for abusers. I am generally of the opinion that anyone who registers a domain name and does not want their details to be publicly available must have something to hide.
I also feel that the data that is made public should not be available for any form of marketing purposes.
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| Submission #: 1898 | (commercial) |
I don't think there is a personal privacy issue here. The WhoIs database is no more than a public record similar to deeds filed in a county clerk office on ownership of property. | |
| Submission #: 189 | (commercial) |
The most upsetting thing to me is the unpredictable and extremely long time periods between the expiration of certain domain names and their re-release to the public. I've been watching one name that expired 7 months ago and is still not available. There is no recourse for me that I am aware of. If there is, please let me know! den@axyl.net | |
| Submission #: 1900 | (individual) |
I build non-commercial websites. I dont like the fact that people can not only see my or my children's faces and then find out what my name, address & telephone # is! | |
| Submission #: 1918 | (individual) |
The host ISP should be available in WhoISThe host ISP should be obliged to hand over customer details for law-enforcement purposes
Personal data would then not need to be revealed publically, but would be available in legal cases with an applicable warrant
The host ISP should also act as point of contact for technical issues.
The host ISP should be free to pass on any associated costs of this additional responsibility to the customer. This is iterally 'the price they pay' for their privacy.
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| Submission #: 1923 | (non-commercial) |
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| Submission #: 1927 | (individual) |
I'm nervous about my address and phone number being on there- name okay.as a consumer i want to know their name and business address. law enforcement should be allowed all the info. let em have we need them.miners are the parents problem no one elses.. networks email address. competively i need their name and city i dont like my address and phone number on their. i think we should delete the phone numbers definetly, and replacing with mandatory email. and address of business only. everyones name needs to be there... | |
| Submission #: 1940 | (individual) |
Personal data for individual (as opposed to corporate) registrants should not be available. | |
| Submission #: 1948 | (commercial) |
20a Private Citizens personal data, by default, should not be published.20c Simply having the ability to call an administrator who is directly responsible for network operations and not a manager in some accounting office.
20d There is none. What protection can you provide minors in your database? Is ICANN going to determine what minors should be protected from? Is ICANN going to start protecting single women...cats owners...corporate CEO's. Just give data regarding the registration leave protection up to application developers.
20e What it was meant for to begin with. One engieer can pick up the phone and call another directly to solve network problems.
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| Submission #: 198 | (commercial) |
I have to register with you if I want a domain. It is not like a credit card or a bank where I have and chonce. If you mistreat me, I have to continue to do business with you. So, you have no choicne but to maintain privacy.
I need my domains protected from thieft and distructive use.
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| Submission #: 201 | (individual) |
The urgency of providing absolute anonymity for Chinese political dissidents far outweighs the value an (easily falsified) mailing address might have to FBI special agents chasing the next Tim McVeigh.
De Facto anonymity must be preserved.
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| Submission #: 206 | (commercial) |
I believe that the WHOIS database maintained by the various registrars and registries is invaluable to the policing of the Internet by parents, consumers, law enforcement agencies and intellectual property owners. The Internet is a public playing arena. Persons that choose to particpate must be willing to submit a public record that makes them accountable for their actions on the Internet. Should a person have privacy concerns, the current environment allows persons to license the use of a domain name.
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| Submission #: 23 | (commercial) |
As I have said, the argument that DNS "whois" is useful for "Internet stability" is laughable. Those of us who actually run the net rarely use DNS whois and instead use the whois data associated with IP address registrations. The privacy aspects of all whois data are significant and the present balance is skewed far and away too much in favor to those who want to use the data and not nearly far enough to protect the person who the data is about. | |
| Submission #: 241 | (commercial) |
The primary intention of the whois database was and should remain to be a way of identifying the nameservers, administrators and registrars responsible for the proper operation of that domain and access to it. All other uses are secondary. If the smoothe operation of the internet is sacrificed for any other interest, it will be a deteriment to the entire network.
While it may be desireable for other interests such as policing and marketing to use this information, it is an abuse of the whois data and the intention of the database(s) to use this data in ways other than it was intended by the registrants who provided it.
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| Submission #: 243 | (individual) |
As it is, right now, I think the data base has gone far enough, is complete enough, and is probably accessable enough to provide
necessary information to the users. Law enforcement agencies have
plenty of technology and legislation to go from there when necessary
without the general public having unnecessary access to private information.
There is too big a tendancy to over-regulate, over- medicate, and over-inform
now that we have this magnificant internet. Instead of reducing the amount
of paper we use, we are using much more because we have more access to
interesting information and want a personal copy. Exercise restraint !
If it ain't broke.....don't fix it. You got it good now. As per all your questions
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| Submission #: 252 | (commercial) |
First, This form should have been multiple choice, particularly question 6, where an obvious answer is "all of the above"
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| Submission #: 2557 | (individual) |
The most important issue in my opinion is: Law enforcement (in all its facets including intellectual property etc.)and the contribution that whois must make in order to facilitate it. The second most important issue is consummer confidence and how whois can bolster e-commerce by bolstering consummer confidence, re-assuring the public that the internet is NOT a place where online merchants can simply hide and disppear at will. Admittedly proper identification of domain owners is only one element that will boost public confidence and e-commerce. All other security issues remain but it is an important element. | |
| Submission #: 2564 | (commercial) |
We believe it is essential that, in so far as possible, a detailed and accurate record of domain owners be available for the public. We do NOT support anonymous registration or the withholding of information pertaining to domains. | |
| Submission #: 2565 | (non-commercial) |
As a non-profit corporation we are especially concerned with privacy issues. However, we believe it is _essential_ that information about domain owners be available to the public. We do not support anonymous registration. | |
| Submission #: 2566 | (commercial) |
whois should hold a list of what domain names are available and what domain names are unavailable and when they expire. It should also be used to help matain DNS records. All registrants personal information should not be advertised on the internet. If someone wished to contact the owner of a domain name, they should have to do this through the central registration body. | |
| Submission #: 2586 | (individual) |
Businesses should be required to provide and allow to be published full, accurate contact information, including a physical address and a valid e-mail address. Non-business domain holders should be able to keep their details fully confidential -- except for a valid e-mail address. | |
| Submission #: 259 | (non-commercial) |
I see both sides of this, because as a 'member of public' I see the benefit in being able to see who owns a site/domain. On the other hand, as a user, I see real need to ensure my name is NOT included in any way on the WHOIS search - this is what must win out in the end. | |
| Submission #: 2600 | (registrar-registry) |
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| Submission #: 2646 | (commercial) |
My biggest concvern about WHOIS is those domain registration authorites which offer an indirect access to it.
Through various jobs with ISPs, I have encountered custoers who have spent time trying out different domain names by typing them into some "Domains Are Us" style web site search tool, to find out if they're free.
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| Submission #: 2691 | (commercial) |
The Database needs to be both freely available, yet protected, posing an almost impossible to solve problem. Limiting data mining though a means of single lookups at a time may help - most legitimate users do not need to harvest huge quatities of domain information at a time.
Also, Whois data needs to be accurate. There are so many registrations with a full address of:
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| Submission #: 2692 | (individual) |
Similar to my response to question 12, anyone who makes any material "public" via a web site or who "forces" material on others via e-mail should not have the right to privacy. They should have no more right to privacy than a person standing on a street corner selling goods, in a theatre shouting fire, or who knocks on the front door to your home. The originator of all content, via web or e-mail, should be easily identifiable so that they may be held accountable for their actions. This is the only way to protect the public from the modern day equivalent of snake oil salesmen and phone dialers, be they of criminal intent or simply electronic nuisances. Directly related to this, questions 18 and 19 ask, in effect, if you are currently able to "mask" your identity and would you. I believe no-one should have this opportunity, particularly when you consider there is no means to prove the relationship of the third party to the registrant without a costly legal proof. The whois function provides the means (normally) to directly contact people who have a techincal association with a registered domain. Surely there needs to be a means to more easily identify and directly contact the actual first party registrant in order that they may be held accountable for the content of the material they make available. | |
| Submission #: 269 | (individual) |
a- personal contact information. why do they have to know who "I" am, where "I" live and such when I want to be anonymous on the Internet and host a controversial website?
b- nonmandating postal addresses, name and such information. an anonymous but contactable person should be able to registrar names and no one should be able to take that away from them.
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| Submission #: 2852 | (other Web site development/consulting/domain resales/internet commerce) |
The registered owner should have the option of either providinghis/her personal details or hold them private. But there should be a method to voice complaints through a third party. | |
| Submission #: 2856 | (isp) |
We need to absolutely require functional contactinformation. We also need to squelch companies which
use registration information for marketing, because if
they didn't do this, people would be less shy of entering
their personal data correctly.
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| Submission #: 2868 | (individual) |
access to this information should not be limited. registrants are well aware or should be made well aware that this information is going to be made available. It's the internet and access to this information and any information is paramount to its success. | |
| Submission #: 2871 | (commercial) |
Invalid registrations are still a problem. Some measures need to be put in place requiring verified contact information from the registrant to protect against invalid registrations. Further, any invalidated contact information should constitute refusal of the registration by the registrar. | |
| Submission #: 2872 | (individual) |
Whois data should be restricted to use for technical purposes and should be restricted to answering single queries.
Bulk mining should be strictly prevented by implementing filters.
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| Submission #: 2887 | (individual) |
Whois should return to its original function as a service to provide vital information regarding internet zones and other related registrations. It should not be used as a free-for-all source of information to businesses and individuals seeking non-technical-maintenance goals. | |
| Submission #: 2901 | (individual) |
From our perspective, the WHOIS database should only show information needed to either do a complete trace for investigations for fraud, misuse, spam, etc. And it should show the date of expiry, where the TLD is hosted, and that it is.
We believe that any other info should remain private with exception to the hosting provider, and the governing body of the registration process. (Should an investigation be required, the investigating party can request information to either the governing body, or the host provider.)
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| Submission #: 2906 | (other all of the above (except government) at different times) |
Whois information is provided by the
registrants for the purposes of
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| Submission #: 2907 | (commercial) |
There should be a reasonable right ofprivacy, a reasonable way to get
private information to proceed with
abuse and illegal activities investigations,
and some form of protection against
harassment and investigational abuse.
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| Submission #: 2915 | (commercial) |
It would be extremely helpfull if the whois registration also contains the type of information any domain provides. This could allow for active filtering (e.g. filter pages for children).Furthermore the privacy should be protected. If informations is spread, it should be with the consent of the registree of any domain. | |
| Submission #: 2919 | (non-commercial) |
20a I want my personal address to be private20b The need to be able to idebtify the trader in case of problems 20c To be able to effectly track down and prosecute offenders (especially hackers) 20d The need for sites to use an international contents rating system so that adults can prevent unsuitable material being viewed/received by minors | |
| Submission #: 2932 | (other IP Lawyer) |
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| Submission #: 2935 | (commercial) |
i have performed searches for a domain name, where there are more than, say, 50 results. however, it will only display the first 50. there is no way to get the next set of results. | |
| Submission #: 293 | (individual) |
With respect to question 19, though I myselfwould probably not make use of such a service,
due to other methods at my disposal for
privacy protection, I think such a service
could be of great benefit to many individuals.
It would be good to have such a service
available.
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| Submission #: 2950 | (other Law firm) |
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| Submission #: 2952 | (commercial) |
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| Submission #: 2956 | (commercial) |
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| Submission #: 2958 | (commercial) |
Ideally Information should be available, and agreements made as to the use of the information. abusers of the information should be held accountable, and the owner of the information should have legal recourse against the abuser of the information, but not the provider of the information. | |
| Submission #: 2963 | (isp) |
(20e) we established whois for technical and operational reasons, and there are no other reasons for its existance. (20a) since the purpose of the whois database is communication between publically announced participants, there are no personal privacy interests. (20f) while various commercial interests would like to "mine" it, the data should be protected via opt-in agreements, and (20b) participants should be notified about each and every bulk commercial transfer of their information. (20c+g) law enforcement and intellectual property enforcement are matters for elected legislatures to establish. (20d) since minors are by definition incapable of executing contracts, there are no minors to protect. (20h) accuracy and timely responses of contacts should be required for continued use of the operational services, and domain and address announcements should be automatically removed for non-compliance. | |
| Submission #: 2983 | (commercial) |
a. Notification to registrants of uses which will be made of data (including public access through Whois).b. Accurate publicly accessible Whois so consumers can protect themselves and seek redress. c. Enforcement of consumer protection, intellectual property and other laws will be facilitated by continued unrestricted public access to Whois. d. Parents can use publicly accessible Whois to find out who is responsible for web sites their children visit, or to identify source of unwanted solicitation. e. Network stability through accessible Whois with accurate data. f. Public realtime access to Whois should not be a competitive issue. All registrars/registries should accept similar or identical obligations. g. Assists in identification of parties who are infringing IP rights online. h. Unrestricted free public access to realtime Whois data promotes electronic commerce. | |
| Submission #: 2990 | (commercial) |
As to question 20: Participation in the Internet is a privilege. One choosing to operate a website must surrender some privacy for the greater good of protecting society from the misbehavior of some website operators. Operation of a website should be contingent on the operator's observance of some minimum standard of behavior, including disclosure of identity and maintenance of current contact information. However, website operators, having disclosed their identities and contact information, should be protected from marketeers attempting to misuse this information. | |
| Submission #: 308 | (commercial) |
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| Submission #: 312 | (commercial) |
Consumer profiling (not a process of WHOIS, but rather of thosewho acquire the data), wherein one becomes targeted for various kinds of spam because of purchasing habits. (This, of course, is outside of the scope of the WHOIS issue.) The profiling, however, becomes possible because of the mining of data. No one knows how many different CDs of "millions of email addresses" one may be on. The law enforcement access is essential in order to track down those who have interjected viruses onto the net. Protection against exposing pornography to children is essential, but there has been no technical means for doing so that really works. The operational interest lies in allocating IPs geographically. There should be no dabbling by registrars, registries or anyone else in intellectual property rights. The UDRP should be abolished, and leave people to their own lawful recourses. There should be no "economic interest" in WHOIS data, and should only be used for limited investigative purposes, never commercialized at all. | |
| Submission #: 316 | (commercial) |
a. Accuracy of information & freedom to withhold items not vital for conduct of internet traffic (ie DNS)b. Provision of real-world contact details for online merchants. c. None. LEAs can ask registries, with warrants if necessary. Provision of detailed info on demand (w/o warrant) to LEAs should be made a condition of becoming a registry. d. None. If a minor chooses to register a domain, they have chosen to act like an adult. Personally, I would not permit minors to register on their own behalf, but require an adult as contact. e. Accuracy. It all hinges on this one aspect. f. Ask a lawyer. I consider this irrelevant to the proper conduct of DNS / domain registration & WhoIS g. Irrelevant. Domain names are not trademarks. If some-one is infringing, we have passing off laws. See answer to 20c. h. I am at least 5 different people on the NSI database, most of whom have no valid email address - not through lack of trying to sort things out. It is too difficult to sort things out. Registries need to first allow, then require domain holders to keep info up to date. For example - I have registered domains for a number of different organisations. For each different org, a new Matthew Pemble is created, without giving me the chance to say "no, I am actually MPE84". | |
| Submission #: 318 | (isp) |
Please understand the whois database is not a marketing tool, or a cure all for tracking down pedophiles or terrorists. It is simply a way to contact domain holders, please treat it as that. | |
| Submission #: 332 | (commercial) |
While I feel that access to WHOIS data is valuable for both intellectual property rights and criminal investigation, there are legal organizations and provisions that are already established to provide access to such information... for instance, a warrant from the government stating the answer needed and why it is needed.
Otherwise, I believe a good portion fo the WHOIS database should be made inaccessable to the general public. Personally I have used the WHOIS database to check the validity of a domain soliciting me- and found it was bogus and a fraud. So it is indeed useful.
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| Submission #: 335 | (non-commercial) |
Privacy for individuals is good, but a shield for corporations is harmful to consumers. For example, sites paid for and developed by corporate interests should be easily traced to that company. | |
| Submission #: 337 | (individual) |
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| Submission #: 338 | (registrar-registry) |
First and foremost the Whois is there for technically and investigative reasons.
All commercial use of this information should be in an OPT-IN format whenever possible, you don't own that data, and a contract won't make it yours either. Data is specific to individuals so it is inherently proprietary.
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| Submission #: 342 | (individual) |
I have 2 comflicting interests. I want to be able to protect my privacy as a domain contact. I've received unwelcome snail mail (and probably spam too) as a consequence of registering. I'm now considering not updating my contact details so I don't get the junk. (Deliberatly corrupting the data.)
On the other hand, its a really useful source of information to track down the spamming scum who infest the internet, I'd really like their details to be freely available. No doubt they think like I do when it comes to being a domain contact. I see lots of bad contact details from spammers.
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| Submission #: 353 | (commercial) |
Over 90% of the SPAM I receive comes because of/via the WHOIS-visible contact/admin email addresses (or else the email info is being sold for such use). This is unacceptable (and is currently combatted by providing inaccurate and/or constantly changed information)! | |
| Submission #: 356 | (individual) |
In the interest of free speech and open expression, anonymous domain registration services should be available.
This is not a very well designed survey. The questions were repetitive and sometimes confusing. I sincerely hope that statistical results will not be reported, as they are highly likely to suffer from the difficulties associated with a self-selecting population.
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| Submission #: 357 | (commercial) |
Please note the UDRP is hard to uphold if no identification of the potential respondent is possible or when the process is too costly. Maybe a duty for registrars to provide for the name of the registering user upon first request could solve some privacy concerns. Keep up the gfood (whois) work! | |
| Submission #: 358 | (individual) |
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| Submission #: 364 | (isp) |
DNS is the most important part of the internet technicallyWHOIS is the most important part of the internet administratively
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| Submission #: 366 | (other Network Security Provider) |
For security reasons it is vital that thecontact information for domains be made
openly available. However for privacy
and safety reasons it is vital that those
people whose contact information is listed
in the WHOIS database be made aware of
the specific details of who is looking
up their WHOIS information and when.
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| Submission #: 36 | (commercial) |
I am most interested in receiving complete information. Having name searches abort after 50 hits is frustrating. | |
| Submission #: 376 | (individual) |
The Whois database should only displaythe minimum technical details required for operation. This should include contact details for the technical contact.
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| Submission #: 381 | (other law firm) |
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| Submission #: 382 | (commercial) |
The biggest abuse is still cybersquatting. Perhaps privacy concerns could be addressed by limiting the number of domain names that could have their addresses kept confidential. The second biggest abuse in terms of current import, but of perhaps greater future concern is the selling of the confidential information. Maybe simply having a personal tld differntiated from com etc. would be a solution. | |
| Submission #: 391 | (individual) |
Personal privacy is extremely important to me. I buy domain names for resell on a very small scale (less than 20 domain names), and I always feel uncomfortable using my home address and home phone number. Because I work from home, however, I have no other "business" address/phone number with which to register a name.
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| Submission #: 393 | (individual) |
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| Submission #: 398 | (individual) |
I think that information from the whois database should be somewhat watered down to include certain information for certain purposes. For example, a major ISP may need to gain most of the information provided by a whois query where as individual users on the internet really only need access to the technical details offerred by the whois query such as the name of the technical contact and their DNS numbers in order to resolve technical issues. I believe that some of the information should not be divulged except to major ISP's and IT departments of major commericla organizations. Much of the information in whois is not needed by lay individuals. So I think that by default whois should not display all the information and that it only be displayed somehow to ISP's and IT depts | |
| Submission #: 39 | (commercial) |
UDRP Panelists should be offered a free report showing all domain names registered by the Respondent, to facilitate fair determiniation of UDRP complaints | |
| Submission #: 417 | (individual) |
accessibility and accountability are far more important goals than privacy for whois | |
| Submission #: 418 | (individual) |
The resources of the WHOIS database were originally intended for use in technical situations, and that's the way it needs to stay. I do not appreciate my name/address/phone number/email being sold to mass marketers, and every time I register a new name I'm flooded with junk mail and telephone solicitations. It's even theoretically possible to get this information through automated lookup scripts without even having to purchase the database, which is astoundingly silly. All that should be released is enough information to contact me with technical issues. That's it. | |
| Submission #: 423 | (individual) |
It'd be handy too see, at a glance, which other sites are hosted from the same site as JoeBozoSite.com. Personal data should be protected by default. I should be able to register my own name, not through a third party, without subjecting myself to harassment and spam. Free speech requires anonymity. | |
| Submission #: 425 | (commercial) |
Personal information should not be released with out the consent of the person.
Only General information should be availible in Whois, IE company Name.
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| Submission #: 429 | (individual) |
The public right to know who is behinda particular domain far outweighs
the inconvenience of "spam"
and the purported privacy violation
of marketing information's collection.
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| Submission #: 449 | (commercial) |
I belive the most important issues for the future of the whois service are that it be retained as a free-to-use service accessible to all and that it is not be used as a lever to promote the interests of any one organisation (including ICANN) and that no profit be made by its operation. | |
| Submission #: 452 | (individual) |
Again, my personal information should always be kept secret, confidential, and encrypted. In fact, don't even ask for my name and address. If there is some valid, severe, law enforcement need to find out who I am, the appropriate law enforcement entity can subpena my ISP and trace me that way. There is no business reason to divulge my personal information. | |
| Submission #: 453 | (commercial) |
Consumer privacy should not trump infringement. A person who infringes should not be permitted to hide behind a privacy screen. Indeed, the quality and character of the information in Whois is very similar to the charaacter and quality of information assembled by the Secretary of State for a typical incorporation or trademark filing. So, big deal. What is the privacy concern in this context? | |
| Submission #: 457 | (individual) |
Above all, the WHOIS service for IP addresses(e.g., as provided by ARIN/RIPENCC/APNIC)
should be maintained!
This is very useful for identifying the parties
responsible for a particular address from which
spam or cracking attempts eminate and is
very necessary to facilitate technical cooperation.
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| Submission #: 461 | (individual) |
Lets face it, the whois database is ripped off by spammers and scammers on a regular basis. As more non-technical people apply for personal domains, especially with a personal gTLD arrive, the potential for abuse is greatly increased.
ICANN has fallen pray to the usual American corporate disease of not giving a damn about customer privacy and uses the whois information to make a quick buck.
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| Submission #: 465 | (commercial) |
Until you cut the money out of the top level of domain registration, you are going to continue to tear everyone apart.
The top level needs to be blind to preferences and to creating revenue.
Purely service creating a useful communication system for all.
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| Submission #: 466 | (individual) |
My two domains are registered to my home. As a simple principle of privacy I do not wish my home address to be available online. Porperly accredited law enforcement agencies should, however, have access to these detail | |
| Submission #: 474 | (individual) |
I think it is very important that the whois database be publicly accessible in its complete form.
If you which to have a machine name and have personal privacy as well, then you can use a service such as dyndns.org or have someone else buy the domain name for you.
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| Submission #: 480 | (commercial) |
Intellectual property has its purposes online, but too often corporations and individuals try to steal or manhandle domains which they have no rights to do so. Unless the domain expressly infringes on someone's rights, there is no reason to remove someone's ownership of the domain. The internet was designed to share information and resources, and even though most may not feel it is information, the right for people to express their disapproval or support of someone or something should weigh higher than the company or individual's rights to have that domain. For everyone who registers "xxxsucks.com" or "myxxx.com", and retains use of the domain for themselves, there should not be a turnover of the domain for infringement. As well, generic words, such as "apple" or "network" should not be considered infringing for any reason, including if someone offers to sell this word. By now, most domains which would hold value, are registered, and this is barely a problem. | |
| Submission #: 481 | (commercial) |
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| Submission #: 486 | (individual) |
The whois database provides a level of accountability that is necessary. For domains to be taken seriously in various endevors, they need to be linked to real world people and companies through the whois database. The database should at the same time be restricted to limit general searches and prevent the harvesting of contact info. | |
| Submission #: 500 | (individual) |
As my website is for personal use it really bothers me that my home address and phone number is displayed on the open internet. It feel it compromises both my privacy and my security. | |
| Submission #: 502 | (individual) |
Thank you for asking for comments. It would be nice to see the whois database under non-centralized control, but with a centralized portal for lookups. Privacy is important, but so is responsibility for one's actions. Individuals can register domains as oranizations or find a third party to do so if they are concerned about privacy, but there must be accountability at some point, the registrant information should remain available. | |
| Submission #: 505 | (other Law firm representing numerous companies) |
There should be little privacy protection for ownership of domain names used for commercial purposes. Domain names that might be associated with purely non-commercial, expressive or political purposes may have substantially stronger privacy protection of ownership information, with information available pursuant to subpoena upon a showing of good cause. The WHOIS database should be serving public and user interests and not -- as it has become -- be an "asset" of the increasingly rapacious registrar community. | |
| Submission #: 508 | (commercial) |
As mentioned above, the information contained within a whois on the com/net/org domains is absolutely un-necessary and causes a lot of problems for both registered owners of domains and the people/organisations who have some involvement (however indirectly related to that domain). From a Data Protection Act (UK) perspective I believe this is on VERY shaky ground. | |
| Submission #: 512 | (individual) |
Personnal information should remain private.Corporate information should be public because corporations are public by definition. Private company information should most likley be public as well because there are many very big and very powerful companies which are private none-the-less. Finally, not-for-profit orgizations should be public too if they are to serve any public service. | |
| Submission #: 515 | () |
20a: Personal contact information is the most important privacy interest.
20b: Consumers must be protected when transacting online. This requires disclosure of a company's contact information in the event of a dispute.
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| Submission #: 518 | (individual) |
When a publication prints a writer's work, it does not print his/her home address & phone number, as Whois does. Some web sites print controversial or unpopular opinions and information, and it's disturbing to me that crackpots (like the Timothy McVeighs of the world) can so easily track down the owners at their homes, with their families. | |
| Submission #: 520 | (individual) |
I'd like special notice to be taken of my responses to 17d) : that ICANN should keep itself concerned with technical matters, and not start selling info at all: again, the goals of the whole DNS are purely technical, and exploitation of the knowledge therein is an abuse of power. | |
| Submission #: 522 | (individual) |
Whois can be a dangerous database since third party companies can find people's home addresses, phone numbers, etc. and especially since some registrars don't allow PO Boxes to be entered as a valid address.
For my purposes, it is unsafe to have my address posted since my father is a police officer and we have always kept our address out of phone books, newsletters, etc. Think of it that way for your purposes of handling information. The processes for gathering Whois information are outdated.
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| Submission #: 538 | (isp) |
20a) Privacy should be grated to the registrant insofar as that they can be reached by Whois users by their chosen medium; but that their private details may not be abused.
20b)No one likes spam; if they want my attention; they can pay to maintain sites by banners.
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| Submission #: 544 | (individual) |
A significant law (or policy) enforcement interest is, given an IP address, to identify the authority responsible for the smallest enclosing IP block. RIPE and ARIN (etc.) provide this for subsets of the IPv4 address space; it would be good to have a global registry to identify either a more exact Whois server for the IP (possibly recursive -- many ARIN IP Whois servers are like this), or the smallest enclosing netblock directly. | |
| Submission #: 558 | (commercial) |
1. False, stale, and missing Whois info facilitatescracking, spamming, and Internet fraud. I believe providing
false Whois info should be grounds for loss of domain name and
IP space, after reasonable notification and a grace period. Missing information
should also not be allowed. Efforts need to be improved to update or remove
stale info.
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| Submission #: 559 | (individual) |
The world is full of psycho's, your homepage is easily accessible to all. It should allow those same psycho's to start turning up on your doorstep. Ie. it should provide no more personal information than you want to provide.
Likewise it should not be seen as a source for profiteering by Spammers and the like. As stated, we pay for the whois service, why should that money be used to provide another way to spam us?
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| Submission #: 564 | (isp) |
The most vital use of whois is for up-to-date contact information for solving operational problems, whether connectivity, services (e.g. email) or attacks.
Most of your assorted questions numebr 20x are phrased in ways making them meaningless to the above concern.
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| Submission #: 578 | (individual) |
Registrants pay their domain registration fees, why should they also be subjected to third-party disclosure of their contact information? Also, prevent mass access of WHOIS databases (for contact info mining). Most of the spam I receive is addressed to my domain's contact address. | |
| Submission #: 586 | (governmental) |
The whois database should be used for nessesary network function and not used for marketing. The information provided is given to serve a purpose, and if that information is abused, that information CAN be revoked through falsification. | |
| Submission #: 589 | (commercial) |
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| Submission #: 593 | (other nonprofit organization domain user) |
If you don't want to be contacted about a domain, don't own one. This wholeset of questions is very much like asking us if we really think it's fair
that in order to operate a vehicle on the roads, we need to be licensed.
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| Submission #: 597 | (individual) |
All whois data is public; any potential domain name registrant should realize that the data provided could be used for any purpose and as such should make provisions if they do not want information privided during registration of domain names to be made publicly available. I know domain names are not trademarks, but they cold be treated the same way. All trademark information is public information. Trademakr owners know this and make provisions if they don't want their informaiton made public. | |
| Submission #: 601 | (commercial) |
a. Contact information for commercial registrants should be available, but the bulk sale of the information should be prohibited unless the registrant wants to be contacted (opt in). Contact information for natural persons should be restricted to the registrant's name and the registrar's information, but the registrar must provide a conduit for communication between outside parties and the registrant for non-commercial communication.b. Consumers need to be able to find out who is soliciting them to attempt to determine the authenticity and validity of information received. Because of the globel nature of the internet, laws are not uniform, hence consumer protection is not uniform. The ability to identify domains and domain registrants of a dubious nature is vital for consumer's self-protection in the face of the lack of uniform consumer protection. c. The identity of perpetrators of scams and consumer fraud must available to law enforcement authorities. Registrars should provide this information to competent authorities based on probable cause. If a consumer is a victim of internet based fraud or deception, the party responsible for the domain from which the fraud or deception originates must be readily available to competent authority. d. Minor's should not be allowed to register domain names. e. Rapidly identifying the source of network trouble is vital to the functioning of the net. Technical contact information must be readily available, perhaps even expanded to include pager and cell phone information. f. The ability to determine if a domain name is available or if confusingly similar domain names are in use. It is common for a company to register the same domain name in .com, .net, and .org TLDs to prevent confusion in the minds of its market. g. No comment. h. Whois should meet EU privacy requirements (stonger than US). This survey should be purged of acronyms in first use, e.g., ccTLD and gTLD in question 2. I think I figured it out, but "country-level Top Level Domain" and "general Top Level Domain" would have been clearer (was I right?). | |
| Submission #: 604 | (other Internet lawyer, dot com entrepreur, personal home page user) |
Perhaps a balance that could be struck between privacy and traceability is to require a listing of the service provider and a valid e-mail address. With htese pieces of information, even if a registrant is not immediately identifiable, at least with proper legal process a registrant can be discovered in most cases. | |
| Submission #: 611 | (individual) |
Question 19 requires much more detail for a sensible answer. For example, how would this third-party registration affect the 'real' registrants rights to the name or the mechanics of defending a challenge to those rights?[Questions 20a through 20h look like they should each have a separate text area for an answer, but don't--so I'm answering a few of them here.] Question 20e: That there be a quick and accurate way to determine who to contact to resolve any problems with the operation or users of a domain. Question 20g: The DNS is not a directory; there are far fewer intellectual-property issues here than various large corporations would like people to believe. | |
| Submission #: 613 | (commercial) |
I believe that it is crucial for any public party to be able to determine from public records the entitities who own, operate and control a domain on the internet, just like they can for physical plots of land, by recourse to publicy available records of ownership and authority. Just like for land-use issues in the physical world, the owners and operators of internet domains must be discoverable so that individuals and institutions affected by the use, misuse, disuse or effects of the operation of these domains have a way to establish a dialog with the responsible parties. | |
| Submission #: 622 | (isp) |
A clear demarkation of different TLDs for different purposes would allow them to provide a level of detail consistent with their intended purpose. For example, a TLD intended for companies may make a number of different contacts available (technical, administrative, legal, privacy) as well as provide references to information held by others. A TLD intended for individuals, on the other hand, might not make any contact details publically available. | |
| Submission #: 626 | (commercial) |
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| Submission #: 658 | (individual) |
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| Submission #: 660 | (commercial) |
The most important personal privacy interest is the use of WHOISdatabases for marketing purposes. Such use of the WHOIS databases
should be strictly controlled so that the information may be used for a limited
range of defined purposes. This principle is also the most important
consumer protection interest. As noted above, the use of WHOIS data
for marketing purposes is likely to encourage the presence of MORE
invalid and inaccurate contact information, and this does not serve anyone's
interests.
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| Submission #: 669 | (individual) |
Individuals/Organizations should be able, at any time (via form submission), to decide what data is available via WHOIS for their domain other than basic information like registrants name and DNS address. As an individual I really don't want my home address on the WHOIS database. If a company won't provide an address to WHOIS then customers can make up their own mind as to why. | |
| Submission #: 696 | (commercial) |
The new generic TLD .name, which is tailored for use by individuals, may be suitable for greater privacy protections. A process similar to what is available in the U.S. for unlisted telephone numbers could be appropriate. If illegal activity is ocurring in connection with a .name web site, law enforcement officials should be able to apply to a court for a search warrant, upon a showing of probable cause, to obtain the WHOIS information. By giving the .name gTLD a greater level of privacy protection a venue would exist for individuals concerned with maintaining personal privacy. Companies and individuals who are interested in keeping a layer of privacy on the very limited WHOIS information for the other gTLDs and ccTLDs are already sophisticated enough to realize that the domain name registration can sometimes be handled through a registrar on an anonymous basis or through an intermediary such as an attorney or consultant. For commercial sites, I do not support limiting access to the WHOIS information because I believe that the privacy interests of commercial ventures do not outweigh the general needs of the public, competitors or intellectual property owners to unearth some basic information regarding who has registered the domain name or is operating a web site associated with the domain name. | |
| Submission #: 6 | (commercial) |
Stop the abusive use by Registrars of intellectual property.An example is the current blackmail of trademark holders by the .biz schemers. | |
| Submission #: 713 | (individual) |
One of the most important things to remember about the WHOIS database is that there is absolutely no notion of a reasonable expectation of privacy as relates to registering a domain. The registrar of a domain _should_ be listed in the WHOIS databases, for the reasons stated above. A trusted third party can be used by those wishing to remain anonymous.
Similarly, there should be no prior prohibition on using registrant information for commercial purposes. A registrar specifically offering privacy by not selling marketing information would be able to serve those who wish to be kept off of mailing lists, etc. This should remain a contractual question between the registrar and the registrant.
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| Submission #: 715 | (individual) |
Privacy: Avoid harrassment by spammers (no bulk dataaccess), stalkers (use third party, PO box).
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| Submission #: 717 | (commercial) |
The whois database's first concernt should be the interest of the public a) in obtaining domain names, and b) identifying persons responsible of technical harm and illegal activity. The internet has become a critical, national-interest resource. It should not be polluted by the need for artificially created, no-value-adding entities to create a profit. The fees payed by millions of people and organizations should be enough to maintain the system without need to sell us out. Allowing the marketing of that information, then invoking privacy to allow third-party agents to mask the identity of domain owners, not only annoys everybody, and raises registration and tort-reparation costs, but also limits the system's ability to protect the public. In my view, this is a classic example of what should have been a publicly controlled monopoly service. If it works for birth, death and vehicle registration, why not internet domain names? | |
| Submission #: 730 | (isp) |
The whois database for gTLDs must be public because they are international--This makes enforcement against registrants difficult enough in any jurisdiction without adding to the problems.
ccTLD policy should not be ICANN's concern--The local registries are in a better position to make such decisions.
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| Submission #: 758 | (individual) |
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.
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| Submission #: 783 | (individual) |
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.
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| Submission #: 790 | (non-commercial) |
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) |
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| Submission #: 810 | (other Both private and in businneses I co-founded) |
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) |
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.
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| Submission #: 839 | (isp) |
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.
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| Submission #: 877 | (commercial) |
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) |
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.
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| Submission #: 932 | (individual) |
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.
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| Submission #: 939 | (registrar-registry) |
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| Submission #: 964 | (commercial) |
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.
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| Submission #: 978 | (commercial) |
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) |
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 #: 9 | (individual) |
Let's face it..the whois database is most commonly used to find good company names that are available (very rare) or more often the ones that expire from cyber squatters.This, in my opinion, is the most important service that is provided. | |