Marketing and Bulk Access
| Submission #: 1004 | (individual) |
| |
| Submission #: 1043 | (commercial) |
For an "open" system like this erring on the side of privacy seems reasonable - up to a point. Processes and procedures should be put in place to allow escalation in the event of illegal criminal or civil use, or technical issues relating to a domain which would allow privacy protections to be progressively voided in a minimal yet reasonable way. | |
| Submission #: 1055 | (non-commercial) |
| |
| Submission #: 1060 | (other representative of users) |
contact information for domain name owners should be available to the public under all circumstances | |
| Submission #: 1080 | (commercial) |
Though I do not have many domains, I do run a site that services a 150.000 users community. And I simply run it from home. Luckily, among that crowd there is just a handfull of idiots. Yet these people can simply look up my home address and home phone number. There is even a service site, that provides a map with a target dish on my address! I've been threatened and harrassed many times, by assholes that claim access to my site based on "the constitutional rights", "freedom of speech" or the fact "that it is illegal that I block the free internet". Mind you, I pay a shit load of money to keep my server on line.The public part of the whois administration has seriously invaded my privacy. Though I consider myself lucky that no damage (other than psychological) has been done yet, I do consider whois information something that some dumb internet hippies once invented which apparently is worth more than my personal safety. Everybody on the web can happily threaten me anonymously, no provider will give me information, it's the same hippies there that protect users privacy, while I'm literally being setup as a target on an online map. Just one click away from being molested or worse. You can't have it both ways. Either nobody gets on line anonymously, or we all do. The way it is now, all those that contribute to the web offering content (which is much more important than stupid domain name trading) are sitting ducks. The whois database is totally irresposible and should be shut down. | |
| Submission #: 1086 | (registrar-registry) |
Let me say this:
The registration of anyname.com represents a small ownership of ultimately public property. It is the beautiful and uniquely implemented process, that allows an individual to own this space, by paying a registration fee.
| |
| Submission #: 108 | (non-commercial) |
I use the whois database primarily for troubleshooting and contact information.I have used it in the past for registration of names. I can see other valid uses
for purposes of network administration, law enforcement, and abuse "management".
I am concerned with its use as a marketing database. I prefer not to get notified
by those that mine the whois database. I would opt-out if given the opportunity.
| |
| 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 #: 1103 | (commercial) |
The whois data should be public information and it should not have any restrictions. | |
| Submission #: 1109 | (commercial) |
All domain registration data should be publicin the same vein that all real property titles
are registered and publically available at your
county courthouse.
| |
| Submission #: 110 | (commercial) |
| |
| 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.
| |
| 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.
| |
| Submission #: 115 | (individual) |
I feel that if a domain has expired, it should be able to be registered by someone else and not held by the registrar. I think it is important that the e-mail address of those that register domains to be protected against spam...maybe the emails on Whois should all be filtered through the registrars. | |
| 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.
| |
| 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
| |
| 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.
| |
| Submission #: 1249 | (individual) |
I have seen many personal website run by children and young adults and their personal address are availible through whois. I also feel that the whois database in its current form causes people who would otherwise register a domain name decide not to do it because they don't want their personal information availible to anyone who has access to the internet. | |
| Submission #: 1265 | (individual) |
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.
| |
| Submission #: 1291 | (non-commercial) |
We must not allow anonymity and data protection to facilitate network abuseto go untracked and unsullied.
| |
| Submission #: 1311 | (University Student) |
I think the primary personal privacy concern is the compilation and re-distribution of registered users contact information. In a world where marketers have no morals and spam is encouraged in Internet Marketing classes, this is a one way road to disaster. | |
| Submission #: 1365 | (individual) |
It is an essential privacy concerne that individuals should have the option to be anonomous. It is also essential that individuals have equal opportuenty for free speech and expression, without having to sacrifice their rigt to anonomiyt.
Consumer Protection should be ensured by the listing of business contact information on the web site proper. It should not be tied to the registration of a domain name and required Whois information. Fraudulent companies, would be able to list incorrect information also on the Whois database, if they so whish.
| |
| Submission #: 1433 | (individual) |
Q. 9. I: Publication of e-mail address, phone and fax number of the admin-c is not desirable. Publication of the postal address is not necessary (opt-out option).
General comments:
Widespread publication of personal data (such as in the Whois database) may lead to a variety of side uses, some of them beneficial, some not. If a publicly accessible database is (partly) restricted because of privacy concerns, some of the side uses may be restricted too. However, these side uses cannot justify negligent treatment of privacy issues.
| |
| Submission #: 1447 | (individual) |
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 #: 146 | (non-commercial) |
This information is collected for one purpose:Given a domain name, locate a responsible party.
Allowing other forms of access to the data (for
marketing purposes, etc.) motivates people to try
to conceal themselves, and thus degrades the
utility of the database. To keep the database
maximally useful, you must eliminate other uses.
| |
| Submission #: 1493 | (commercial) |
| |
| Submission #: 1502 | (individual) |
The "name and postal address of the registrant" should be able to be hidden for personal domain registrants. The whois information should never be sold. Spam domains and other "crimes" with actual victims are the only law enforcement interest I see.
Many of the news articles I've seen about ICANN sour my taste for the organisation. The web was not meant the use of megolithic corporations, and should not be granted the ability to take domains as they see fit. "Domain squatting" is not a crime, it is an inconvenience of life on the web. If I want icannsucks.org, I should be able to purchase it, use it and keep it. The only time the issue of squatting should be brought up is when the domain is not being used.
| |
| 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.
| |
| 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.
| |
| 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 #: 1563 | (non-commercial) |
a/b sale/rental, etc of data to third parties, including other divisions of the same organization. The hiding of indentities under the guise of "privacy" is an abuse, not a virtue. Never in the history of the world has anyone acted through a "strawman" for honorable purposes. It is done strickly because the perpetrator has something to hide. | |
| 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.
| |
| Submission #: 1677 | (commercial) |
The systems should be modified so that unrestricted access is maintained for real people sitting at a keyboard but made difficult for robots set to gather addresses for spam. PayPal has a system that works nicely to stop robots form opening accounts to collect their $5 bonus. | |
| 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.
| |
| 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 #: 16 | (isp) |
It is already too easy for others to gather information about consumer on the net, this should not make it easier to do so. I already get spam based on my information in the database, that I find offensive, and irritating. As for IP rights, who is there first should win, there are plenty of outside laws that take care of those issues, we do not need more. And we certainly don't need you to be the watchdog for society. | |
| 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 #: 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.
| |
| Submission #: 1743 | (individual) |
The Whois database access needs to be changed so that data mining is no longer permitted, and only those who specifically opt-in to have their info disclosed for "marketing" purposes are affected by the resulting spam/uce and bulk-postal-mail users. If digital certificates were required for Whois access of detailed domain owner info, then only legitimate users, including law enforcement, would have access. Spammers would be reluctant to have their ture identities found. | |
| Submission #: 1752 | (commercial) |
Mail to a snail-mail address is not as intrusive as UCE. Spammers use the publicly available whois email addresses. An email-forwarding service approved by ICANN and supported via registration costs that filters for spam would be a nice feature so that those that register domains would not need to post a valid personal address. Surely someone can come up with a good solution. Hence, my use of the following: | |
| Submission #: 1755 | (commercial) |
| |
| Submission #: 1764 | (individual) |
| |
| 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 #: 178 | (non-commercial) |
20a/b--Some of the spam I receive is probably from data in the whois database. It would be nice to have some protection there.20d--The issue of minors should be settled at the point of whether or not they can register names, not whether they should be in the database. Their protection should be determined at the registration process--either with a warning, or with parental/guardian permission if that's what's preferred. It doesn't make sense to have a two-tiered whois database, one for 17 and younger and one for everyone else. Plus, how would you keep track of registrants who aged and are now in the age of majority? | |
| 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 :-
| |
| 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.
| |
| Submission #: 1882 | (commercial) |
| |
| 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.
| |
| Submission #: 1892 | (non-commercial) |
Privacy must be respected by not bulk-selling customer information in any form. You must, however, allow free public access to the information through whois so the public can use the information to solve problems, etc. Currently this information is not easily accessble due to the many registrars for TLD's. A unified system must be set up where all the whois contact information currently accessable from the individual registrar's whois is accessable in one database at internic.net. | |
| Submission #: 1923 | (non-commercial) |
| |
| 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 #: 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.
| |
| 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.
| |
| Submission #: 199 | (individual) |
I hate the information I provide being used for marketing to me through any medium. ICANN/Congress needs to restrict the usage of this information for marketing. | |
| 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.
| |
| Submission #: 202 | (commercial) |
End the spam now! Sale of my personal data should absolutely not be permitted. | |
| 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.
| |
| 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.
| |
| Submission #: 24 | (other journalist) |
I think that phone numbers need not be freely available. But ownership of domain names should be clear. The technical registrant need not be public. Every domain name could register a public mailbox that the whois database would show. Would like corporations and owners to be visible, and I like seeing the city and state of ownership. | |
| Submission #: 252 | (commercial) |
First, This form should have been multiple choice, particularly question 6, where an obvious answer is "all of the above"
| |
| Submission #: 2559 | (commercial) |
Any alterations to the service should consider if they can reduce the level of unsolicited mailing both normal commercial and more importantly pornographic and commercial pornographic without reducing the service. Not an easy task. | |
| 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 #: 2589 | (commercial) |
My main interest is in preventing spamming as my email is being filled with many each day. I use a net based service to report spam (SpamCop) and I guess they use WhoIs services. It is important that such services are available - if not the spammers have much less to fear... | |
| 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 #: 25 | (commercial) |
a)Personally identifiable information should not be published.b)Their is no conusmer protection interest applicable to whois, it simply is not a usefull tool for that purpose. c)Same with law enforcement, whois information is a poor law enforcement tool.
d)Information about minors should not exist in the database -at all-.
e)Whois can be usefull to connect the use of a service (i.e. email) to specific network infrastructure, it is
of dubious utility for any other purpose.
f)For us, there is nothing important of a competitive or economic nature in whois.
g)Same, nothing important or usefull.
| |
| Submission #: 2600 | (registrar-registry) |
| |
| Submission #: 2610 | (individual) |
In the current environment of identity theft and problems with harassers and stalkers, it is totally inappropriate for you to publish the information you do. Not only that, but It took me searching through several 'agreements' to find where I consented (unknowingly) to the release of this information. I read two 'privacy' statments which implied very very strongly that the information would not be released, then in one poorly formatted and fairly hidden agreement, it turned around and said that it was going to release anything they want. This is very disturbing. I would not have signed up for my domain name if I knew this would happen. I feel incredibly tricked and very unhappy. BTW, I used onestop.net for my registration. | |
| Submission #: 2651 | (individual) |
Great idea of this Survey! I think it's the time to protect privacy details more then we do now. Main reason is the amount of Spam leaving to much tools open (selling data, etc.) Thanks | |
| Submission #: 2660 | (commercial) |
The vast majority of internet users have not registered, and will not register, a domain name. Simply because these people are the majority (and the continued success of the Net relies on them), whois must serve them first. These users rely on whois for consumer protection and general research, and the current whois does them well.The vast majority of registrants are individuals or businesses who comport themselves in an ethical manner and whose principal interest in whois is the procurement of additional domain names and research into other registrants. These registrants do not want to be spammed or have their information sold and so the current whois policies do them poorly. I don't believe the interests of these groups are incompatible. Whois can serve both well. The problem comes in when companies believe they can profit off information gleaned from whois. Frankly, almost all of this information is available elsewhere. To subject whois to the needs of the very small (but vocal) minority which sees it as a moneymaking tool risks alienating the primary and secondary audiences. The fact is, whois can be supported - as a public good necessary for the continued smooth function of the internet - from registrant fees. Selling whois data is not necessary. | |
| Submission #: 2675 | (individual) |
As an ordinary individual I just want to use my computer without being under constant attack from people with dubious intentions and selling pornography. | |
| 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:
| |
| 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.
| |
| 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.
| |
| Submission #: 2859 | (individual) |
The Whois database should be a public information database for reference purposes ONLY. It should not be sold to marketers under ANY circumstances; it's the only way to reduce the multitude of spam that everyone receives.The Whois database should be UNIVERSAL in nature and content. It should assist all people in becoming ONE organizational group, rather than supporting the proliferation of political boundaries. The Whois database should be independent of ANY government agency. | |
| Submission #: 2863 | (other University) |
It should be very easy to assertain the difference between persons looking up an address and spammers gleening the Who-Is for email addresses.Also you can cloak the email addresses from direct mass searches using technology. I think you should have to LOG IN to get ANY who is info, this way you can track it and cut gleeners off. Unfortunately, I don't give a crap about protecting minors that is their parent's job. I do not think the Internet should be anonomous, Do you talk to strangers on your home phone? I don't. I am appauled that strangers hack into our network on a daily basis and because of anomousity we are helpless some of the time. KEEP THE GOVERNMENT OUT!!! I find it also appaling that I cannot collect information from people that claim to be under 13. I know people that use this scam to cloak their identity. You can use my information as you wish as it is now YOUR information. GD PS- a gleener is a spammer or person that uses Who-Is for marketing purposes. | |
| Submission #: 2866 | (commercial) |
I believe that the opportunity to buy/sell domain names should becurtailed. Lapsed/unused/unwanted names should revert to the free pool with a randomized "to be available again" date/time (within a known window perhaps.) I recognize that this will not be a popular suggestion in some circles but I do not see any benefit to the Internet or society as a whole from the speculation on domain names. | |
| Submission #: 2869 | (commercial) |
Whois is not a marketing database and should not be used as such. When it is opened up to marketers, the quality of the information provided by registrars suffers and the database as a whole loses utility for everybody. | |
| 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.
| |
| 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.)
| |
| Submission #: 2904 | (registrar-registry) |
Abuse of contact information is such a wide-spread nuisance of increasing proportions that we manually manage a database of fictional contact details that always route to the correct desk in our organisation so that (a) we receive the information we want, (b) we can trace abuse of contact information transparently. This comment, and my answers above, I feel convey my overall views on the matter. | |
| Submission #: 2906 | (other all of the above (except government) at different times) |
Whois information is provided by the
registrants for the purposes of
| |
| 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.
| |
| 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 #: 2927 | (commercial) |
20a: Disclosure and convenient opt-out for bulk release of data to 3rd parties20b: Easy access to all data 20c: Easy access to all data 20d: Easy access to all data 20e: Current records which are easily updated 20f: Ability to show whether domain name is available for sale or not available. 21g: | |
| Submission #: 2948 | (isp) |
Centralized access and uniformity are important for both operational and competitive reasons. The current difficulty of keeping contact information synchronized across registrars creates extra work for ISPs but provides no discernable benefit. | |
| Submission #: 2952 | (commercial) |
| |
| Submission #: 2959 | (registrar-registry) |
The most important personal privacy and consumer protection interest is to avoid unauthorized data mining of and marketing to WHOIS contact information. This can be achieved by developing stronger restrictions against data mining. Because we have seen great abuses of the WHOIS data through both data mining and illegal, misleading marketing, we believe that registrars should be able to restrict access to online WHOIS data and that the Bulk WHOIS requirements should be thoroughly reviewed to ensure that consumer protection needs are being met.
Personal privacy protections can be realized without causing IP, law enforcement, and consumer interests to suffer. The most important IP interest is to ensure that trademark holders are able to locate domain name holders to resolve TM infringement and other IP concerns as quickly as possible. Changes to online and Bulk WHOIS policies shold take these concerns into account while providing opportunity to restrict WHOIS access in the interests of consumers.
| |
| 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 #: 2976 | (non-commercial) |
I'm tired of being harvested for spam and junk mail | |
| Submission #: 298 | (registrar-registry) |
THe should be federal legislation that would protect this data from misuse. THe only way the WHOIS db rules will have any teeth is if their are civil/criminal penalties for misuse. I also feel that there should NEVER be and loopholes or policies for limited Marketing of data. If there are, there will always be those who bend it in their favor. | |
| 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 #: 2997 | (isp) |
The only problem we see with the current whois system is the use of information for unsolicited email by entities too lazy to do any market research.
Centralization would be nice, but the fact that Internic provides information of the location of the whois database has proven sufficient.
| |
| Submission #: 308 | (commercial) |
| |
| Submission #: 311 | (commercial) |
WhoIs is owned by Verisign and Verisign also has significant investment into Quova. Is there a connection with Quova using WhoIs information for commercial use? Quova is selling user location information to advertisers to better target ads. Quova says they know where you are down to the zip code level, this is an invasion of privacy and they do not let you opt-out. | |
| 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.
| |
| 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) |
| |
| 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.
| |
| 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.
| |
| 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.
| |
| 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) |
| |
| 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.
| |
| 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.
| |
| Submission #: 381 | (other law firm) |
| |
| 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.
| |
| Submission #: 393 | (individual) |
| |
| Submission #: 395 | (individual) |
Bulk harvesting or purchasing of whois records is not in the interest of domain owners. Email addresses listed in public whois records are inundated with spam and rendered useless in many cases. I, personally, am setting up all my whois-listed email address to simply be auto-responders which list the true email contact address for legitimate inquiries to the domain. This will relegate all other automated emails sent to my whois contacts to the trash bin. | |
| 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.
| |
| 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.
| |
| 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 #: 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.
| |
| 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.
| |
| Submission #: 481 | (commercial) |
| |
| 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 #: 488 | (commercial) |
The most important issues are that the WHOIS database not be influenced by any corporate or marketing interests and that bulk access to potential marketing data is completely prohibited. | |
| 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 #: 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.
| |
| 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.
| |
| 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.
| |
| Submission #: 542 | (commercial) |
More privacy.
More local choices.
| |
| 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?
| |
| 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.
| |
| 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) |
| |
| 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.
| |
| 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 #: 615 | (commercial) |
keep data PRIVATE else get spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam | |
| Submission #: 617 | (commercial) |
whois is just a data registry comprising essential information that makes it possible for the net to run better
the data need to be accurate and complete with no provisions for excluding any registered parties and no provisions for turning the database into a mass marketeer's honey pot
| |
| Submission #: 626 | (commercial) |
| |
| Submission #: 647 | (commercial) |
| |
| Submission #: 658 | (individual) |
| |
| 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.
| |
| 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 #: 66 | (commercial) |
| |
| 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 #: 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.
| |
| Submission #: 715 | (individual) |
Privacy: Avoid harrassment by spammers (no bulk dataaccess), stalkers (use third party, PO box).
| |
| 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 #: 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.
| |
| Submission #: 776 | (isp) |
Verisign is an abusive monopoly that is well past its sell by date. Time and time again it has abused the trust we gave it (Internic as was), selling our database to spammers is the last straw.Fix the rules and make sure that unethical marketers and all others that seek to abuse the Internet are shut out for good. | |
| Submission #: 778 | (other Law firm) |
It should be and is a public database - there is therefore no privacy issue. IP issues are also issues concerning public/consumer interests. Contracts with minors in my jurisdiction are voidable - as global registries, each should take steps not to contract with minors in the first place. | |
| Submission #: 781 | (commercial) |
The part that bothers me the most, is that I put genuine information in my registration in good faith, and then must change it in order to prevent spam or junk mail. | |
| Submission #: 783 | (individual) |
20a) The most important is that a registrant's physical address not be necessarily obtainable over the web (i.e., 3rd party addresses are important).
20b) Whois should not become an address farm for spam or junk mail.
| |
| Submission #: 789 | (isp) |
20b Anybody using the whois database for marketing of any type should be liable to civil fines of $10,000 US for each offense.
| |
| Submission #: 790 | (non-commercial) |
Registrants should have an option for an "unlisted" whois entry, which would include the domain name, expiration date, name server info, and postal mail address for the contact, but not include phone number or email address. | |
| Submission #: 807 | (individual) |
20a: make it a federal offense for misuse of WHOIS information.
20b: make it a federal offense for misuse of WHOIS information.
| |
| Submission #: 810 | (other Both private and in businneses I co-founded) |
Would be nice if e-mail field was replaced with a central contact form so spammers can't collect addresses from Whois. | |
| Submission #: 828 | (commercial) |
ICANN should take into account that what is considered basic, requiredamount of privacy varies very much around the world. While in the US
sale of information for marketing purposes is dictated by commercial
viewpoints, in many places in Europe and rest of the world it is treated
as a violation.
| |
| Submission #: 839 | (isp) |
20a) E-Mail addresses should never be provided in bulk form.20c) Law enforcement officials I have worked with in the past consider ICANN and the Internic to be co-conspirators with the bulk of the world's Internet Scam artists.
20g) Intellectual property rights? On a domain name? In the real world, this is considered a red herring.
| |
| Submission #: 850 | (individual) |
I believe that the domain registration information should be readily availablepublic information, excluding the personal addresses and phone number
of private domain name owners. There should be a method of contacting
a domain owner, but perhaps thru their hosting company would be best -
providing them a level of anonymity while making their domain ownership public
knowledge.
| |
| Submission #: 854 | (commercial) |
| |
| Submission #: 855 | (individual) |
Privacy is often used as an excuse to develop procedures that allow misrepresentation to consumers. Protection of consumers is more important than protection of registrants in the database. | |
| Submission #: 865 | (commercial) |
Since the publisher of content is often different from the domain name holder,I see no intellectual-property reasons for providing information about domain
name holders. While I do not personally engage in anonymous activity on the
Internet, I support the right to anonymity there and in other areas of life.
| |
| Submission #: 887 | (non-commercial) |
I wouldn't mind if a court order or written request were required to accesspersonal (not corporate or technical) contact information from the WHOIS
database.
| |
| Submission #: 925 | (commercial) |
| |
| 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.
| |
| Submission #: 939 | (registrar-registry) |
| |
| 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.
| |
| 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 #: 99 | (individual) |
20a: Protect privacy of personal information. Otherwise, inaccurate information will be given. 20b: Prohibit data mining and mass marketing of personal information. | |