[At-Large] Issue Report on Thick Whois

[Evan Leibovitch]

On 22 November 2011 03:25, Lutz Donnerhacke <lutz at iks-jena.de> wrote:

> In iks.lists.icann.at-large, you wrote:
> > I have not yet reviewed the document in sufficient depth to say
> > whether I feel that it is complete, but on an initial review, it
> > looks fine. My personal belief is that the ALAC should strongly
> > support the initiation of a PDP on this issue.
>
> I'd strongly suggest to move to thin WHOIS approaches whererver possible.
> Thick WHOIS services requires privacy violations as well as violations of
> various local laws by transfering personal data outside of the jursidiction
> of the domain name holder.
>

I disagree strongly.

Thin WHOIS allows domain owners to hide from people who may have been
harmed by actions on their site(s).

Internet domains are, by their nature, public instruments to be used to
help people find Internet content. This is one area in which privacy, by
and large is the realm of people hiding from (what I believe to be)
legitimate investigation. I do not believe that, in this case, the public
should be denied information available to law enforcement.

I would remind that At-Large is charged with protecting the interests of
Internet end users, not registrants. Registrants have an interest in being
able to hide. End users have an interest in domain owner accountability and
transparency.

I favour thick WHOIS.

- Evan